Jaeger
by Araceil
Summary: Believing himself forsaken by the Sandaime after a training accident with Jiraiya where he fails to summon Gamabunta in time, Naruto strikes out alone in search of a new life, but finds that plans go awry, his and others, and now Naruto is lost in another world entirely. "What do you mean 'There's no such thing as FIRE COUNTRY!"
1. Chapter 1

**Jaegar**

 _ **000**_

Believing himself forsaken by the Sandaime after a training accident with Jiraiya where he fails to summon Gamabunta in time, Naruto strikes out alone in search of a new life, but finds that plans go awry, his and others, and now Naruto is lost in another world entirely. "What do you mean 'There's no such thing as FIRE COUNTRY'?!"

 **Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate crossover.**

Naruto/OC  
 **(Potentially Slash, potentially Het. I have yet to make my mind up on whether or not this OC is male or female)**

 **Features:**  
Streetwise!Survivor!Common-sense!Disillusioned!Stubborn!Naruto,  
OCs, AU from Chuunin exam Break onward, slight Konoha!Bashing (Unintentional, but it may come across this way, hence the warning), Monster Hunter!Master Race (lol), Chakra!dues ex machina.

 _I do not own Naruto, nor do I own Harry Potter. Please do not redistribute my work without permission._

 _ **000**_

 **CHAPTER ONE**

It should have been raining, he hazily decided.

Shadows stretched, and circled. And he just breathed. Eyes focusing on the muddy silt covered rock beneath him.

There were no plants down here, there wasn't enough sunlight for them. It was too damp for anything but mud, and bugs. Distantly, he felt a light wind rake through his bloodied hair and sweep up his back. Had he the strength, he would have shivered with the chill of it. It carried the promise of rain from the smell of it, but the only rain right now was water dripping down from the fangs of rock that jutted out overhead, dribbling down to splatter on him like some asshole Kami taking a piss.

It would have matched his feelings if it really were raining as he lay at the bottom of that ravine, waiting for help he was beginning to think would never come. It also would have drowned him but, at this point in his hazy pain filled consciousness, he hadn't thought of that. It had been an hour, and he was still waiting for help.

Help that, later, after four hours of lying there, trying to breathe past the blood congealing in his lungs, he _knew_ wasn't coming. He couldn't move however hard he tried, no matter how much he willed himself to move, not even a finger would twitch to his will. And all he felt was pain.

Uzumaki Naruto lay at the bottom of Kiba Gorge, watching his own blood steadily dry on the uncomfortable rocks he lay crumpled upon, like a discarded rag doll. His body was broken, his blood leaked like a faucet, he couldn't see properly, and all that filled his ears was the steady throb of his own heartbeat. And he watched the shadows move. Like all ninja, he learned to tell the time by the passing of the shadows, it was how he knew he had been bleeding out for four hours at the bottom of the ravine, it was how he knew that no one was coming for him.

Jiraiya had pushed him.

Naruto blinked slowly, his eyes aching and stinging, not from tears, but from blood. He could do little else. His body had stopped listening to him, he couldn't even feel the pain anymore. He knew that was a bad sign. But... Did he really care anymore?

Lying there, he started thinking. Usually, he didn't like to, because inevitably, he would begin to dwell on all the cruelties that the people of Konoha had heaped onto him when he could actually focus on one subject, and he didn't like doing that because they were just frightened, and didn't understand. It wasn't as if Fuuinjutsu theory was covered in the Academy, so no one would have even the faintest idea about a Jinchuuriki Seal unless they were a Jounin, or a dedicated Fuuinjutsu specialist at Chuunin. Civilians had no way of knowing, or understanding. He couldn't blame them for being ignorant, or scared. So Naruto didn't dwell on that sort of thing, he didn't dwell on his own thoughts because they had a bad habit of cycling back to darker areas. Thinking was dangerous. For other people's wellbeing.

But with nothing else to do... too broken to move, in too much pain to sleep, there was nothing he could do but stew in his thoughts, and his feelings. And his realisations. Pain keeping him focused in ways he wished it hadn't.

Jiraiya was a Sannin. He was one of the three, and what's more, he was the last _loyal_ Sannin. When that Snake-freak attacked them in the forest, he'd asked Sakura-chan about him, she hadn't known much, but she knew enough, enough for him to figure the rest out himself. The Snake-freak went rogue and ditched the Village after conducting horrible experiments on Civilians. The girl of their team suffered a break down after witnessing her boyfriend and her little brother die, she became scared of blood and had to retire as a Ninja. She left the village too. And then there was the Pervert Sage, who stayed. Listening to the Jounin lounge gossip filled in the rest of the blanks. Naruto knew that the old pervert was an incredibly super-strong Jounin, on par with a Kage, who taught the Yondaime, and still carried out active missions on behalf of Jiji. His rank was so high, and he was so well respected, that no one save the Hokage _could_ give him orders. Not even the Council.

But that was the rub.

Jiraiya was just _that_ good. So... Why had he thrown him off that cliff while he was Chakra Exhausted? He knew Naruto wouldn't be able to save himself like that.

Why hadn't he saved him when it became only too obvious that Naruto couldn't call up Kyuubi's Chakra to do it himself? If he taught the Yondaime, he had to have been just as fast as him and managed to catch him at least before he hit the bottom. Heck, he could have even summoned a Toad right beneath Naruto before he hit the ground.

 _Why hadn't anyone come to check on him yet?_

It was obvious though. Naruto could lie to himself as much as he liked about how everyone must have been busy what with the Chuunin Exams, all the foreign dignitaries, foreign Shinobi, the Orochimaru problem, Sasuke, Gaara, even Hinata-chan being in the hospital. But right now, right now he couldn't because he was the _fucking Jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi Kitsune!_ He _wasn't_ just being arrogant when he said he was a fucking important member of the hierarchy.

 **He was a living weapon, for Kami-sama's sake!**

It was on purpose.

Jiraiya had thrown him down there on purpose. For no other reason than to kill him.

He wasn't strong like Sasuke, smart like Sakura, he didn't have as much determination as Fuzzy-Brows, he didn't have an awesome Kekkei Genkai like Hinata-chan and her asshole cousin, Neji. He couldn't even use his Bijuu's powers like Gaara could.

Maybe that was what started it?

Jiji saw how Suna's Jinchuuriki was powerful, and able to use the power of his demon, and decided that Naruto just wasn't good enough. Jiraiya had done something to his Seal back when they were in the bath-house. Maybe it was to lock the Kyuubi into him when he died so they could come and take it out of him later, or destroy it completely? Jiji was a good person, he wouldn't approve of making another Jinchuuriki. Not when they were likely to end up like Gaara. Which... Naruto would be lying if he said that he _didn't_ know what the other boy was thinking, or feeling, because Naruto had thought it, thought about doing those things. About not caring any more, and just hurting them as much as they'd hurt him. Of _making_ them pay attention by ripping their eyes out and forcing them to look. Scaring away those cold, hateful eyes.

Jiji must have known. That must've been why Jiraiya attempted to kill him.

He took him far from the village, in a place where his body wouldn't be found, a place where, if whatever he did to the seal didn't work, Kyuubi couldn't hurt anyone. And he made damn sure that Naruto wouldn't survive. He had been battling Chakra Exhaustion for three weeks now, like he said he wanted.

And if he _had_ managed to drag up Kyuubi's Chakra... that was also a win because it meant Konoha had a working Jinchuuriki. Jiraiya had been talking a lot about its Chakra and how he should use it but... to Naruto, who had seen what happened to Sasuke when he got too dependent on his Super-Eyes only to have them taken away, he didn't think it was all that smart to steal Chakra from the Demon. After all, it wasn't his Chakra to start with. And just looking at the bruises that Neji caused Hinata-chan, and thinking back to the lessons they had on Chakra, didn't forcing someone else's Chakra into a different Chakra system cause horrible burns and stress on the circulatory system?

He sighed softly through his nose and blinked slowly. He had tried, and while he couldn't remember _clearly_ , he was pretty sure he succeeded but... flashes of red, smoke, an orange mask and a ripple of black and red.

He came to at the bottom of the cliff, without sight or sound of the Toad Sannin near-by.

Six hours.

Six hours of nothing. But... he no longer felt numb.

Shifting, his body ached so bad it may as well have been all one giant bruise as he managed to gather his limbs and move to a slightly more comfortable position as he was in no way capable of lifting his own body weight right now.

The wind moaned through the jagged teeth of the gorge overhead and Naruto flinched a little as he felt the water that stubbornly clung to the teeth dribble down and over his head, managing to land in his ear as well. As if his day couldn't get any worse.

Maybe he should just stay here... die like Jiji clearly wanted.

He was a danger to Konoha. Just seeing how Gaara behaved, no one could deny that Naruto could be just as bad, if not worse – after all, wasn't Kyuubi the most powerful? He didn't know what Gaara's was but it had to have been pretty strong, otherwise Suna wouldn't have let him stomp all over them.

It wouldn't be so bad... to die... would it?

He would get to meet his parents for the first time.

And he wouldn't have to put up with those cold, angry eyes anymore.

Everyone would be better off if he weren't there.

They'd definitely be happier.

He blinked slowly, feeling tears sting painfully at the corner of his eyes. He had to admit, he was scared of dying. He didn't want to end up a ghost, or go to hell, or get eaten by Kyuubi. He was a demon, right? Demons did that, they ate your soul if you let them corrupt you. He didn't want that. He wanted to pass on, maybe be reincarnated. Hopefully as a cat, or a dog, or even a bird. He would like that, being a bird. Being free like that.

Of course he would miss Sakura-chan, Sasuke, Kakashi-sensei, Iruka-sensei, Konohamaru, Teuchi-san, Ayame-nee... He'd even miss Shikamaru, Chouji, and Dog Breath. He'd miss Jiji too, even if the feeling wasn't returned.

Chirping filled his ears.

Naruto cracked open eyes he didn't realise he'd closed, and lifted his head.

Opposite, chirping agitatedly, was a single, bright yellow canary. So ridiculously out of place in the grotty darkness of the gorge they lay in, Naruto had to blink twice before he realised it was real. It regarded him with a beady black eye, chirping and chittering anxiously, one wing held awkwardly as it hopped along. It hopped toward him and then back, and then forward again. The little guy seemed unsure of what to do with him.

It was a little funny, Naruto decided, cracking a small smile.

They had the same coloured hair.

And they were just as broken as each other, he noticed, watching as the little guy tried to take flight, only to flutter half a foot and crash. It looked like it had been doing this a while. That wing was definitely broken, and the little guy was damp, and muddy. Previously bright yellow feathers now about the same colour as his hair likely was.

Naruto watched as it tried to take flight again. And again. And again. And again.

He felt his stomach twist in on itself at the familiarity of the scene in front of him, at the way the little bird chirped, almost angrily, as it tried to take flight again.

 _I never give up, and I never run away! That's my Nindo!_

 _ **000**_

Walking hurt, but it was getting easier.

The bottom of Kiba Gorge was surprisingly dark, the distant sound of dripping water catching his ears in an unwelcome way in the quiet stretches. Not that he had many of them with his little saviour chirping away in his jacket collar.

Dusk was steadily dying the sky orange as he staggered and limped toward what he hoped was the east opening of the gorge where it was less of a steep climb to get out compared to the other side. He wanted to get under some tree cover soon, there were some rather ominous clouds on the horizon that looked like they would bring a pretty nasty rain-storm. With his body in this kind of shape, he didn't want to test whether or not he could get pneumonia.

Kiba Gorge was about as old as Konoha, maybe a little more so, it was made during one of the many famous duels between Senju Hashirama and Uchiha Madara, the two of them quite literally tearing the earth apart as they fought. It was a man-made gorge that he heard was sometimes used for Chuunin examinees. But right now, it was abandoned. And considerably larger than the maps he hazily recalled from the Academy. It was weird, for a former Chuunin-Exam testing area, he expected more left over Kunai and Shuriken, the training grounds were full of them – it was where he got most of his own equipment as he could never buy anything good quality from the stores. There were clumps of mushrooms here and there, a few spider-webs gleaming with dew drops decorating them like diamonds, but other than that, it was nothing short of a desolate chasm without so much as a detectable path across the silt and mud smothered rock.

It had been almost eight hours since he hit the unforgiving ground when he finally managed to drag himself up, and over the lip of the gorge. By then, the sun was a distant gleam on the horizon, and the dark storm clouds were rapidly swallowing up what little light it offered. Naruto staggered into the treeline, feeling the sudden chill to the air that heralded the onset of rain.

He managed to make it to a relatively thick set of trees before the heavens opened. In no condition to climb, he wearily went about stripping his jacket, making sure his fussy little saviour was bundled up safely inside, as he went about using what little survival knowledge he remembered from the Academy to put together the best thicket he could. With his jacket tucked away in the roots of one of the trees where it would stay dry, he didn't worry so much about his t-shirt getting soaked as he pushed and manipulated brambles and bushes to lay the way he wanted. It was long, and hard work with his body so battered and sore. But he knew... once he stopped to rest, he would sleep for a _long_ time. Two, maybe three days. He had a lot of Chakra, and it replenished fast, but it meant that when he crashed – he crashed longer than most people, before he got to a functioning level of Chakra.

Once he'd gotten things the way he wanted – even managing to find some huge oddly unknown leaves to act as a kind of mattress so he couldn't wake up to insects in his nose or ears – he stripped out of his T-shirt and pulled on his jacket, thankfully still dry, and crawled into his thicket shelter. He hoped none of these plants would give him skin irritation, he didn't recognise half of them but they didn't have a waxy texture, or the same kinds of barbs he was familiar with on nettles.

There was barely enough space for him to lie down propped up on his elbows, but he made do with what little space, and light, that he had.

His little saviour was still chirping away, but much happier than Naruto had seen him yet. The little guy was tiny, easily fitting into the palm of his hand. Little black eyes watched him as the bird tilted its head from side to side, chirping contentedly as it fluffed itself up and shook, flicking little grains of dirt and mud away. He was bright yellow, almost all over, but with a warmer almost golden shaded face. He had a white beak and a pair of long legs the same colour. He was decidedly different from the common Fire Country variety of canary that had much thicker beaks for cracking nuts and seeds. Maybe he was from River? Or Grass? He didn't know if canaries were migratory, but he knew some birds flew to other places, warmer ones, for winter.

"Lets fix that wing," he rasped out loud. The little guy tilted his head and Naruto fought to remember everything he knew about field medicine that Iruka-sensei had beaten into him. First, when it came to broken limbs, you had to reset the bone. Then, you needed to splint it, tying the splint in place so the broken bone couldn't move or slide about, and the splint didn't fall off. Then you had to keep them off the broken limb as much as possible. Get them to a Medic Nin as fast as possible. Well, he was down a medic nin, and he didn't have any supplies. But he supposed that he could _make_ stuff good enough for a canary.

So he did.

While the little guy made himself comfortable on a section of moss visible inside a tear in the leaf he was using as a bed, Naruto went about stripping a pair of twigs of their bark so he could use them as splints.

He didn't know why he was making so much effort for a little bird when he himself was so broken and battered, but... maybe it was because he saw himself in the little guy. Still trying hard to fly, even with a broken wing. Maybe that was him. Still living, even with a broken body, and a broken heart.

He paused, taking a deep breath, feeling a tacky sensation in the back of his throat as his lungs rattled painfully. But he didn't cough. He held it. Waiting until the stinging in his eyes went away. He couldn't cry now. He had perhaps half an hour of rapidly dwindling light before he would be plunged into a dark that even he couldn't see through. He wanted to get his little saviour seen to before them.

So he worked quickly. Teasing a few threads from his worn jacket so he could bind the splints, and using strips torn from his T-shirt to act as a bandage, he reached out and caught his little saviour. The bird was calm, if not curious in his hands as he gently pulled him closer.

"Sorry about this, it'll hurt, but I promise it's to make you feel better. Don't hate me, please," the Jinchuuriki pleaded before stretching out the broken wing.

Almost immediately, his little saviour burst out into a storm of painfilled and angry chittering and shrieking, biting and clawing at Naruto's hand as he held him firmly and reset the tiny delicate bones. Not once did the little fellow manage to draw blood, a Ninja's hands were often tougher than old leather from all the training callouses. But Naruto worked as quickly as possible, because he didn't like causing anyone pain, and the little guy didn't even understand why Naruto was hurting him.

Splints in place, tying them down and bandaging the whole thing up was easier said than done with only one hand, but Naruto managed it. The light was almost completely gone (And Naruto had damn good eyes, unnaturally good. He could see in very low light almost plain as day. It was approaching too dark for even him to see), and he was exhausted. His little saviour had stopped trying to rip his thumbnail off and was now just chirping unhappily at him as he set him back down on the patch of moss he'd claimed for himself.

Beady black eyes seemed to glare at him as the canary fluffed itself up as threateningly as possible and actually turned its back on him, flicking his tail once or twice before settling down, managing to startle a laugh out of the blond causing him to cough and his lungs to rattle again.

He took a deep breath and held it, fighting down the reflexive retching as his lungs tried to expel the congealed blood in them. He couldn't, not yet. Still too injured. If he tried to cough that up right now, he would just tear something and cause more bleeding. Not yet.

He sighed, listening to the patter of rain on the leaves over his head, smelling damp earth, plants, and night-rain. Some of his favourite smells. And even though it was cold, he didn't find it difficult dropping off to sleep. It claimed him easily.

As if it had been waiting.

 _ **000**_

Why would he be dreaming this, Naruto wondered as he climbed to his feet, looking around absent-mindedly. He had never seen a sewer that looked like this. The ones in Konoha were all circular, big-ass pipes. But no where near this kind of height. They were barely big enough for a Genin to stand in and they had so many of those funky swirls in there that he thought he'd stumbled onto some weird art thing when he found himself in there. Jiji later explained that they were there for security, and vermin control – that was why Naruto hadn't seen any rats down there. Those weird swirls killed and ate them.

The walls were a faded pastel yellow colour, skirting boards that stood three or four inches above the water that seeped into his sandals were a vivid electric blue. Above him were pipes, some thick, some thin, some battered and semi-repaired, some shiny and new looking. The walls were a little cracked in places, with plaster and paint blotchy and peeling. Square cut doors lead away from the main corridor he stood in, there were no doors. Just yawning chasms where they should have been, holding nothing but darkness.

In all, a place he had never been. And he kind of wondered why he would be dreaming of it – until he heard something that sounded distinctly like breathing.

Curious and wary, he stepped forward, moving down the doorway that the sound was coming from. The lighting changed, almost dimming before it turned to a kind of muted green and reflected red. He stared up, and up, and up. Bars, thick, set fairly close together, ornate and an odd steel that looked almost green. Those were some _huge_ doors, he decided. Wait... what was... He squinted and peered up, that looked like a piece of paper.

 **'Seal'**

What did that me-

A puff of hot air reminded him of why he was there as a large baleful crimson eye glared at him from a red face. It was framed in black, black that stretched up its eyebrow ridge and flicked further into an ear. It looked almost artistic, he decided, staring at the eye, squinting slightly at the hot sulphuric breath that plucked at his clothing, and misted on his face. Though idly he wondered how it could do such in a dream.

" **KID... COME CLOSER...** " a growling baritone coaxed. Warily, Naruto stepped forward, knees tensed, ready to spring back almost immediately. Which he did as a set of wickedly huge ivory claws clashed against the bars, not close enough to hit him, but certainly close enough for him to feel the wind of their approach. He swallowed as a deep lusty sigh filled his ears. " **I WANTED TO EAT YOU... AH, THIS DAMN SEAL...** " the voice continued and for a moment, Naruto was confused. Until he looked up at the slip of paper again.

This was the Kyuubi.

And like the proverbial light-bulb that went off as he realised, the light in the room grew stronger, and he finally saw the Demon in its entirety. Vivid flaming red and orange, he was massive, easily dwarfing the Hokage Monument, curled up, lying down with his head resting on his paws, half in the filthy water around them. Crimson eyes watched him with something he could quite identify. But... it wasn't the cold hatred he saw in the village's gaze.

He stared, all those things he wanted to say died on his tongue.

The fox was huge.

And he looked...

Naruto tilted his head, filled with an odd emotion he couldn't quite identify as he stared up at the beast. A creature so powerful... trapped. Forced into a box not even a tenth of its size, ripped from his own body, forced to sit in dank darkness for over a decade. And... Naruto realised. This was not an animal. He could speak. That meant he could think. He had just tried to trick Naruto into getting within striking range, which meant he was _intelligent_ and even so... he... didn't seem to _hate_ him.

He'd heard some stuff from Jiji after the Mizuki thing. If someone tore open the seal, and took Kyuubi out of him, he would die. There was a very, _very_ thin chance, that might not happen. But it was only something like three-percent, and only if he had a unique Chakra nature. So that meant... his life was tied to this creature. And vice versa.

What was a Jinchuuriki? A human Sacrifice, a prison for a demon, a hilt for a weapon...

A slaver?

The Demon tilted his head, watching his host as the boy stared up at him, blue eyes dark with thought. In truth, he had expected the moronic mud-monkey to start shouting at him, start blaming him. His mother had been bitter, but resigned about their union. Her predecessor, had been elegant and strong. He could not say either of them had been cruel to him. Kushina had merely wished for his silence, she had not wanted him to interfere with her life. Mito... Mito had been gentler. She wished him tranquillity. Peace. Contentment. She tried to pass those feelings on to him. She would meditate and visit him, try to extend a hand of friendship... but he had been bitter. Angry. Insulted and indignant over his current state. He was the most powerful of the Nine! The Eldest Brother! He could not be confined in such a degrading manner!

But Mito had been a force of nature all her own, and bound him within her with only her soul and her will to restrain him. If he could have ever loved a human woman... she probably would have been it. Had they been able to spend more time together. Had his temper cooled and his arrogance diminished in time. But it hadn't. So now, all he could do was remember his first host as fondly as he could.

So when the Third appeared before him, he had been expecting someone worse than Kushina had been. He had felt the draw on his power more than once in the last decade and come to the assumption that, as usual, those connected with a Demon were reviled and harmed. He had been expecting greed, demands, outright dismissal, maybe even pain.

He hadn't been expecting the twelve year old to step forward and willingly through the bars of his cage, completely fearless as he climbed onto the kitsune's fur and found a place between his shoulder and his chest, burrowing himself down, gripping his fur. Of all the things Kurama had been expecting...

A hug was not one of them.

"M'sorry," came the mumbled lament, making the demon pause in his reflexive action to get up and shake the boy away. Not even Mito had apologised to him. "It looks like it's just you an' me now," he continued, "There isn't anyone else who'd stand by us. We're alone now." What was he talking about? Had those stupid mud-monkeys managed to lose him to a different country? "What's your name?" the boy asked quietly, stroking the demon's fur with comically tiny hands. "I'm Naruto. I know we've never talked before, but I only found out you were in here recently. I suppose I should have known long before. You've always been here... You healed me up when I got hurt, and helped me protect my friends when I couldn't on my own... Thank you, for that."

Kurama stayed silent as the boy spoke, utterly bewildered and unwilling to act without an idea of what to expect. Such a curious Host.

But... he supposed being so young... Though Kushina had been just as young when he had been implanted into her, but... he listened to the boy as he chattered away, nuzzling himself into his fur. He wanted to know what had happened, he half wanted to lash out at the kid, snap and snarl at him, but something held him back. Whether it was the apology the boy started with, the memory of Mito so fearlessly approaching him, or if it was the simple chatter of a lonely child trying to reach out, he stayed quiet as the boy talked himself out.

The two stayed in silence for a while, "You never lied to me," the boy finally said. "You and me... we're stuck together until the end. I guess that makes you family," the child decided thoughtfully before sliding down off the demon's shoulder, landing with a splash. "I always wanted a big brother... You don't mind, do you?" he asked, turning and looking up at the demon.

It would have been so easy to squash the child then and there. Lift a paw, bring it down. Snap his jaws and crunch. Swing a tail down. Hell, even roll over. But he didn't.

" **NO. I DON'T,** " he allowed. Because no one had shown him such trust since Mito. No one had thought so highly of him, ever. Not since Otousan. No one had _looked_ at _him_ , not the Kyuubi, not one part of a whole, not a Demon that needed to be controlled or contained. Someone who _looked_ at Kurama. The oldest of the nine. The big brother. No one saw him. And he would have been lying if he said he didn't miss the others. If he said he didn't miss Otousan.

The smile he received in return made him growl softly and turn away, feeling uncomfortable. This was all wrong. This wasn't how his first meeting with his Host was to go. They were supposed to snap and snarl and hate one another. The boy was supposed to make demands, he was supposed to taunt and snark at him, maybe flood him with such potent youki that it messed with his mind and burned his body.

The boy wasn't supposed to look at him with such old eyes. He wasn't supposed to _look_ at him. And he wasn't supposed to listen as the boy pointed out that the only thing he had in the whole world was him, and vice versa. That they would be together until death did they part. That Kurama was the only solid constant in the child's life, the one thing he could depend on. The one that had protected him to that very day without fail. And it made something uncomfortable turn over in the kitsune's stomach to be thanked so wholly for something he had done for purely selfish reasons.

The boy wasn't supposed to smile like Mito.

 _ **000**_

 **And ta'dah!**

 **What is everyone thinking? Hehehe, I'm really enjoying this story. In case you couldn't tell.**

 **Now, I know there's going to be people hanging on the review system saying:** BUT SARUTOBI WOULD NEVER DO THAT!

 **You're right, he wouldn't. Naruto is just being dramatic, and fatalistic, and leaping fullspeed in the wrong direction because that's what people do when they're hurt, confused, and left to stew in their thoughts. We know Naruto doesn't think often, well, this is why in my opinion. It's a conscious decision on his part because he has very depressing, or violent thoughts. Sarutobi would never order Naruto's execution unless he had gone as out of control as Gaara, and even then it would be as an absolute last resort. But Naruto doesn't know that. All he knows is his point of view, where a high ranking Jounin has Chakra exhausted him, taken him to a secluded location after messing with Kyuubi's seal, and thrown him off a cliff.**

 **As for Kurama, I'm not going to make him the friendly voice in Naruto's head. He's just confused right now, wondering what the fuck is going on and not willing to do something stupid to Naruto quite yet.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Jaegar**

 _ **000**_

Believing himself forsaken by the Sandaime after a training accident with Jiraiya where he fails to summon Gamabunta in time, Naruto strikes out alone in search of a new life, but finds that plans go awry, his and others, and now Naruto is lost in another world entirely. "What do you mean 'There's no such thing as FIRE COUNTRY'?!"

 **Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate crossover.**

Naruto/OC  
 **(Potentially Slash, potentially Het. I have yet to make my mind up on whether or not this OC is male or female)**

 **Features:**  
Streetwise!Survivor!Common-sense!Disillusioned!Stubborn!Naruto,  
OCs, AU from Chuunin exam Break onward, slight Konoha!Bashing (Unintentional, but it may come across this way, hence the warning), Monster Hunter!Master Race (lol), Chakra!dues ex machina.

 _ **I do not own Naruto, nor do I own Harry Potter. Please do not redistribute my work without permission.**_

 _ **000**_

 **CHAPTER TWO**

Naruto had no idea how long he slept for, but when he finally woke up the rain had long since tapered off, and his shelter was starting to wither and brown at the edges – likely as not, it had been a few days. His little saviour was hopping around outside, currently doing battle with an unknown type of earth worm bigger than he was, fluttering and chirping explosively. Naruto was surprised the little guy hadn't flown off yet – ah, yeah, right, the wing. But that still didn't answer the question of why the little guy was still there, he could have just as easily hopped off back into the wild, and yet he stuck around.

Naruto stretched, relishing the deep muscle ache that usually accompanied a good-night's sleep, and the less pleasant soreness that came from being severely injured and not moving for a time. The sound of shifting leafs caught his little saviour's attention and the canary abruptly flitted away into the roots of a near-by tree. Slowly, and with a little wavering, Naruto crawled out of his protective thicket and into the light of day.

Even though he was a Genin, Naruto had always been particularly adept at observation; his infiltration and trapping were the best in the Academy, it was just a shame that they were not tested subjects. His immediate instinct was to check the area for pursuit or tracking. He supposed that he had been lucky with that rain fall because it looked as though the extended storm had washed away all trace of his ever being there. There was no whiff of blood in the dirt, his footprints had been completely erased, and, he glanced up at the sky, it looked like another storm was coming within the next day or so judging by those clouds. If he worked quickly, he could probably put eighty miles between here and... Where _did_ he plan on going?

The blond sat back on his rear, staring up at the sky as he thought, his little saviour peeking out from the roots and hopping over with an onslaught of chirping. It hopped on his knee, observed him a moment, and then hopped off, returning to his worm which was still writhing on the ground in several mutilated pieces.

Where did he go from here?

He couldn't go back to Konoha. Well, he could, but it would mean his death, and if he had wanted to die he would have just stayed down there in Kiba Gorge and given up. He wasn't about to die. Hell no. He was gunna live and have a ton of adventures, save Princesses in far off countries, help people who couldn't help themselves, he was going to see the best and worst of the world, and when he was old and grey he would die in his sleep and go and meet his parents and tell them all about the things he'd seen and done. So Konoha was definitely out.

Where else had he been?

Well, he'd only been out of the village once, and that was on his mission to Nami no Kuni to help Tazuna. It'd only take two days to get there, one if he ran full-pelt flat out, stopping only for bathroom breaks and drinks. But the question was, how did he get there without being recognised? Those freaky white eyes Neji's clan had could see through Henge, and there were a lot of other people trained to recognise them. They'd be able to tell immediately he was under Henge just by his Chakra output.

He coughed, gagging a little at the tacky sensation in his chest.

But it didn't stop there. Almost as if his body were rejecting his own lungs, Naruto found himself bent double, coughing and retching as it felt like something tore within his chest. He tried to swallow it back but instead, after five minutes of coughing so painfully his eyes watered, he vomited. Only... it wasn't vomit, because his stomach hadn't been what scrunched up and heaved. Mucus and blood splattered out onto the dirt as he coughed. It did smell a little like bile, but anything else he had to observe about it was silenced by another bout of hacking – and more congealed blood joined the first lot.

Naruto gagged, spitting to the side and wiping his mouth. His throat burned, and his chest hurt like someone had punched him and tried to rip his lungs out, but he could breathe _so_ much easier now that all the gunk was gone. He reached up to wipe sweat from his forehead and paused as his fingers encountered cool metal.

His hitai ate.

Naruto dragged it off and stared down at the swirling leaf symbol. A symbol that held so much pain and longing, so many memories and dreams. A symbol... he could no longer wear if he wanted to live to see his next birthday.

But he couldn't just throw it away. It was Iruka-sensei's very own. The one he gave him when he was acknowledged. Naruto couldn't throw this away, and he couldn't slash through it like every other Missing Nin. Unlike them, Konoha was still precious to him – so precious. Pain or no pain, attempted murder or not. Konoha had been his _home_ , a place of such hope, and pain, of acceptance, and intolerance, of cold glares and the exhilaration of acknowledgement. Naruto had never known anywhere else. He couldn't call any other place home. No where could replace Konoha in his heart. Just like no one could replace Iruka-sensei in his heart.

He carefully folded the metal plate in the fabric of the band, tucking it with infinite care into his inside jacket pocket. No one could replace Iruka-sensei. He was the man who saved his life, and his sanity. Iruka-sensei was... proof that Uzumaki Naruto was not hated. That Uzumaki Naruto existed above and separate from the Kyuubi he housed.

And even though he could never return to Konoha, he could definitely become a Ninja that Iruka-sensei would be proud of!

"Yo, we're off. Wanna come?" he asked, looking down at the little yellow canary that saved his life, holding a hand out to him. The little bird tilted his head this way and that, before hopping onto Naruto's hand. He felt almost weightless as he transferred the noisy little guy onto his shoulder.

"I've really gotta think of a name for you, 'ttebayo," the Jinchuuriki decided as he kicked up his little thicket, making sure to scatter the now rotting leaves and branches, put everything back where it belonged and erase his presence. He didn't bother with the blood or mucus. The rain would wash that away in a few hours. For now he just had to get moving.

"How about Hiro?" the blond asked as they made their way through the forest. He was purposefully taking it slow so that he could find some red ochre and other plants – specifically Madder root and Sumac berries. He didn't have _all_ the ingredients, and it would take entirely too long, but his hair was pretty light. It wouldn't be too difficult to mix up a good enough paste to stain it a deep red. He would just have to be careful not to stain his skin in the process. Smudge a bit of dirt and soot onto his cheeks to hide the whiskers and no one would be able to tell he was Uzumaki Naruto. He should probably look into a new name as well.

"Actually, thinking about it, I don't even know if you're a boy or a girl," the blond realised as he continued his search. He could smell the river near-by, a good sign as he needed water to not only wash and drink, but to also make his dye and wash it out. "Gotta go with a mixed name then. I'd say Jun, but I get the feeling you're even less obedient than me!" he laughed as they followed the river south-south-east. "Akira? Hikaru? Kei? Actually no, I like Hikaru. You're the one who showed me the light," the blond continued to chatter as they walked.

His little saviour apparently couldn't have cared one way or another if the way he had gone to sleep in Naruto's shirt collar was any indication.

 _ **000**_

Rain was threatening the horizon pretty strongly by the time Naruto washed the last remnants of dye from his hair and face. He had gone a step further and done his eyebrows as well, just to make sure that no one could mistake him for who he used to be, he even had a Kage-Bunshin apply the dye so it wouldn't get everywhere. He looked weird with red hair, but it wasn't a bad look in all honesty.

"You look like a tomato, dude. A tomato with attitude problems!" his Bunshin laughed, snorting and guffawing inelegantly on the dirt floor.

Naruto glowered at it before kicking a stone up and dispelling it. He grimaced. He really did look like a tomato with attitude problems, what with his roundish face and vivid red hair that stuck... up...

"Kage Bunshin!" he commanded, fingers crossed as two clones popped into existence.

Both knowing what to do, the red heads rushed off into the undergrowth where they rustled around for a bit, one came back, and then there was a puff of smoke from behind the bushes as memories of drawing the kanji for ramen in the dirt floated into the back of his mind.

"He wrote ramen, right?" the Nukenin questioned, half anxious, half hesitant as he looked up at the clone who nodded, face twisted in disbelief. "Oh my Kami," Naruto breathed, leaning back in shock. How had he not realised before now?

Why had no one SAID before now?

He could have trained _so_ much with this and gotten so strong and – of course. They wouldn't have told him because of that very fact. They didn't want him to get powerful, just in case he turned on them like Gaara did. They had to maintain a very delicate balance between making him an effective weapon for the village, but keeping him weak enough to dispose of if he ever turned on them. A hard road to walk and an even more difficult balance to maintain. He guessed that this wasn't the only thing they had neglected to do for him, another way of stunting him, just in case.

He sighed, and dismissed his Kage Bunshin, knowing that the two Clones had argued briefly over which word to write, one wanted to write Hokage and the other wanted to write Kyuubi. In the end they settled on a neutral word, Ramen. This was so strange, he decided grabbing a handful of river mud and smearing it over his cheeks to hide the whisker marks that identified him as Uzumaki Naruto to a casual observer.

He would have to change his clothes soon, but for now, he kept his jacket tied around his waist and allowed his black T-shirt to soak up the fading sunlight as he hopped into the tree-top highway, heading south-south-east toward Nami no Kuni. Through the now defunct Mori no Kuni that Konoha had 'conquered' some twenty to thirty years ago. If memory served, there were still pockets of dissenters, he would have to be careful and drop to the ground when he reached that area. Though... with the rain he could now feel dotting his forearms and face, he didn't think any one would particularly care for one tree hopping kid.

Running through the Treetop highway was monotonous and boring, it didn't take long for Naruto's thoughts to stray once more, Hikaru chirping idly in the mop of scarlet he was now calling his hair. He had seemed a little offended over the fact he could no longer effectively camouflage himself in it anymore.

As much as Naruto would have loved to, and he knew they would welcome him with open armed enthusiasm, he couldn't stay in Wave with Tazuna and Inari for too long. Someone was bound to notice the lack of body and come to the conclusion he wasn't dead yet, and then the hunt would be on. And as one of the few countries he'd been to, Wave would be their first stop point in searching for him.

No, even if he would love to stay with Inari and his family, Naruto couldn't. He had to keep moving, stay ahead of the Hunter Nin, take what work he could get, specifically D-ranked stuff – he never thought he would say it, but thank goodness for Iruka-sensei being over protective and not allowing fresh Genin to go on C-ranks without a standard month of training under their belts. And curse Kakashi-sensei for being so goddamn lazy that they didn't do _more_ D-ranks in that time, instead of focusing on Teamwork exercises that were doomed to fail before they even got started. Mainly because of Sasuke and his superiority complex, where did he get off acting like that anyway? It had to be a genetic thing. The Military Police were the same way, throwing their weight around, acting all important, treating him like shit, especially the Captain who always had that really creepy look on his face. Same look that Orochimaru-yarou had on his face come to think of it. Ewww, there were perverts everywhere! Perverts after little boys! Though he had to wonder, wasn't the Captain Sasuke's dad?

With his brain going off in several directions, it was difficult to drag his attention back to the matter at hand, he had to pinch and twist his ear to stop his mental ramblings and get back onto his future ideas for survival. Specifically, how he was going to get money to pay for his equipment. Because right now, he only had the shirt on his own back. And if he was going to survive, he'd need a lot more. He could do wilderness survival easily enough, he was actually the best in the class that that, tying with Aburame Shino but it would be uncomfortable, and it would leave visible signs behind him. He couldn't afford a trail. Not when he was so laughably weak he wouldn't be able to fight back. Not against Hunter Nin.

No, his best bet was to join up with a Merchant caravan. He'd heard stories of kids who managed to reach entirely different villages before a Ninja was sent out to retrieve them by a frantic parent. No one looked twice at the Merchant caravans and if he asked to join up, citing that he was an explorer, they wouldn't be suspicious if he had his own kit such as tent, money, camping supplies, etc.

He'd spend time with Tazuna and Inari, work for the supplies he needed, and then join the first Merchant caravan that passed through Wave.

Still, despite the lack of attention he paid to the surroundings, it didn't take long for the niggling discomfort he felt to have him slowing down and actively beginning to pay attention to just what felt so _wrong_ about this place. Ignoring the unfamiliar, and quite frankly hair-rising, sounds of the local wildlife, he was beginning to realise that it was getting _hotter_ the further South-East he went. Which couldn't be right as Wave was so much cooler than Fire Country, being on the coast as it was, almost within spitting Distance of Water Country which was well known for its harsh snowy winters. It shouldn't be getting warmer. Not only that, but the trees... He came to a complete stop on one of the unfamiliar breeds, taller than a Konoha red-wood, with thicker, rougher bark, it looked closer to one of the Forest of Death giants, than the smaller trees that carpeted Fire Country from Iwa through to the defunct Mori no Kuni. Not only that, bushes and herbs he could see down on the ground, flowers, exotic breeds he couldn't hope to identify and Naruto was _very_ good at botany, he had been tending his own greenhouse on top of his little block of flats for as long as he could remember living there.

He hadn't even run across a road, or seen the Black Scar – an old Ninja battleground from just after the Third Great Shinobi War that had been forever scorched black due to an S-ranked fire technique in a squirmish between Konoha and Kiri.

Maybe he had gotten turned around and made his way to Wind, instead of Wave?

( _He was fairly sure he hadn't, but what other possibility was there? He would have recognised these plants, the climate, from the last time they passed by with Tazuna-san if he had been going in the direction of Wave._ )

He twitched and reached for a kunai he didn't have as he heard a series of odd grating barks and yips tear through the air below. They didn't sound like they came from something _large_ , but at the same time, it was so alien and unknown that he couldn't stop himself from tensing. Especially when he realised there was a lot more voices than just the one. Several different tones and pitches, in several different directions. He had never heard anything like that. Not even in the Forest of Death, and he thought there wasn't anything that could sound worse than the horrid beasties they had been forced to deal with in there.

The bushes below rustled.

Naruto swallowed. A cold sweat prickled the back of his neck.

His stomach twisted as everything went still.

A blur shot out and -

Naruto blinked, almost falling out of the tree.

Talk about your climatic disappointments. All that tension, for this? He wondered, staring down at the odd creature below.

It was about as high as his shoulder, wiry and thin, looking as though he could have quite easily snapped it like a twig in all honesty. It skittered around below on two legs, its forearms tucked up against its thin low-slung chest, its head curiously remained stationary in the air as it ran, the rest of its body going up and down while the head remained perfectly level where it was as it scrambled beneath him to sniff at the bushes. Its body seemed to primarily be a rusty coloured orange and pale lavender purple, scaly orange flanks from neck in wide swaths of colour right down to the oddly knobbled tail, pale lavender decorating the forelegs as if they had been dipped in paint, and striping across its back like someone had held a paintbrush just above for it to run under. Its face was long and thin, a narrow pointed snout filled with tiny almost serrated teeth, and sharp red eyes set somewhere between the front of its face and the sides, like some mix between carnivore and herbivore (o-omnu- onny? Something), with two wide purple and orange tipped fan shaped frills going from the top of its head and running along the jaw-line to just above the throat.

It was the one making that weird barking noise, he realised as it stood straight and began to yip loudly, apparently not having noticed him as several more of the weird things came out from the bushes to join it.

He huffed dismissively, all that fuss over a couple of weird scaly lizards with legs. He shifted and began to climb upwards, maybe if he got a good look at his surroundings, he would be able to guess where he was and go from there.

He was prepared for the bright burst of sunlight when he finally breached the canopy, he was even prepared for whatever gust of wind that would hit him. But the smells, the sights, the _butterflies_ , they, he was not prepared for.

A storm of jewel bright wings in blues, reds, purples, and pinks swept past him as he pushed aside leafy branches and flinched back from the bright sunlight overhead that washed down on him like water from a broken dam. The wind kissed his cheeks carrying a scent he couldn't even begin to describe beyond sunshine and open-spaces. Blue eyes slit open to squint at the wide-world and flew wide in shock and awe.

Clear blue azure skies, flickering colours of butterfly wings shimmering around him as the disturbed insects fluttered this way and that to alight anew on blossoms and branches, a roiling ocean of greenery laid out beneath him, giant trees swaying in the wind stretching out in chaotic wilderness around him, gently descending down and growing sparser the further away they went. Giant red rock monoliths rising up like vine-covered bones from the ground, almost like the broken ribs of some ancient creature from beyond the Shodai's age. He stared, breathless, as in the distance shimmering brown-gold sands wavered wetly in the heat haze of the sun, scrubland and grasses eventually withering into sand and rock.

He would have said he was in Wind Country.

But this was not Wind.

He... he didn't know _where_ he was.

It looked like _nothing_ from the geography scrolls in the Academy, nothing like the pictures Ji- Hokage-sama showed him, or Iruka-sensei tried to beat him about the head with.

He squinted, something catching his eye in the distance.

Dust trails... and... light reflecting off metal. That was blue... and red... and white – it looked like a Merchant Caravan! _Awesome!_

Naruto grinned excitedly, "Looks like we're in luck, Hikaru!" he exclaimed, shielding his eyes from the sun so he could get a better look at the terrain. He needed to know where he was going without jumping across the treetops, he wasn't going to be able to sell the idea that he was a down on his luck explorer waylaid by bandits if they saw him bouncing around like a shinobi.

The air pressure changed.

Blue eyes went wide and Naruto immediately launched himself forward, leaping out of the tree and into a second one further away. Chakra latched onto the foliage to halt his fall as he rolled to one side and looked up, angry yell on his lips dying into a disbelieving wheeze as he was confronted with something that most assuredly _wasn't_ the ninja he was expecting.

Metallic green scales and a pair of malevolent orange eyes glared at him from a snub-nosed face possessing a wicked looking goring spike upon its chin. Two legs clawed upon the tree he had once been sitting in, branches and twigs snapped and splintered into match-sticks beneath powerful green-bronze talons the length of his thumb and three times thicker. Adder patterned wings adorned with hard bone spikes stretching from a powerful broad ridged back covered in thick almost fur-like spines. A ridge of hard spiked plates stretching from the top of the creature's head down its spine and along a powerful spined tail just as long as its body, tipped with a bulbous spiked mace that flexed like a cat's claw, milky venom running down the green scales.

That... He would have liked to say dragon but...

The beast roared, its voice tearing through the air and grating on his ears painfully.

He was not ashamed to admit he panicked, turned tail, and fled like an Uchiha confronted with fangirls.

He'd been eaten by a snake once, he didn't want to test his luck and see if he could Kage Bunshin his way to exploding out of this one (for one, its mouth was too small to swallow him whole and with those claws he got the impression it liked to tear things up before chowing down, plus, those were armoured scales, his clones would probably POP before managing to rupture their way out).

It lifted itself to its full height, wings standing straight up before with one powerful lurch, it launched itself skyward with another one of those lung-tearing screeches, powering into the sky and arcing back around.

Naruto swore when it aimed for him again.

He dove through the trees, under the safety of the canopy as he sprinted across branches and swung from overhanging vines. He could hear the wing beats overhead, the frustrated grating shrieks that caught his ears. It couldn't get through the canopy.

At least not – HOLY SHIT!

Naruto squawked and threw himself to the side as fire burst through the protective ceiling of twigs and leaves, burning liquid splashing the branches that he had been running on and setting them alight.

It – it breathed fire.

Okay.

Okay. Fuck.

Claws broke through the canopy overhead and Naruto yelled as he was forced to drop down towards the forest floor – he reached both hands out, channelling chakra into them as he grasped a branch and stuck fast. He yelled in pain as his shoulders wrenched but the momentum from the fall so suddenly halted had him swinging forward from the tree and cancelling the chakra. He slung himself forward too fast for anything approaching grace as he flailed through the air, latching onto another branch and vaulting over it, expelling enough chakra from his hands to repel him from the bark and launch him even further away from the dragon (there was no other word for the fire breathing winged lizard trying to kill him).

He ran, and ran, and ran, his lungs burning as the sounds of the dragon's grating shrieks faded behind him.

He panted for breath but didn't slow or stop until the natural sounds of the forest began again, until the trees began to thin and grow sparse, until there was more sand and scrub than tree, until a withered, sun-bleached branch broke underfoot and he dropped like a stone, exhausted, and out of breath.

He tumbled gracelessly to the floor, kicking up dust and dirt as he rolled and skittered down a small incline away from the forest and into open land.

He groaned uncomfortably as he heaved himself up onto his hands and knees.

Was this how Sakura-chan felt after training? If so, he could totally understand her reluctance to accept any of his training offers once Kakashi-sensei was finished with them for the day.

Staggering to his feet, he wobbled a tad and cast a paranoid look to the sky – blue eyes picking out the green dragon that had attacked him winging away towards one of the great red monoliths rising up out of the greenery further away. A nest perhaps? It would explain why it attacked him. He was in its territory, and now that he had been driven out of it, the dragon no longer had an interest in him.

He dusted himself off with a grunt as all the aches and pains made themselves known once more. He had nearly died barely a day ago, he needed some time to properly rest. His chakra was lower than it had ever been – that mad sprint through the forest had only drained it further. He was practically running on empty.

He needed to find somewhere safe to sleep, something to eat, a bath would be a fantastic idea too.

He needed to catch that Merchant Caravan.

Now, where...

He shielded his eyes from the glare of the sun as he peered over the rolling hills and golden grasses that slowly stuttered into sand and rock the further away from the forest it went.

He was so busy looking for the trundling dust trails, he didn't notice the mottle green and orange patterned creature crouched amidst the grass behind him, malevolent red eyes locked onto the back of his head.

Not until it landed on him.

He yelled as two sharp fangs punctured his shoulder, everything tightened, cramps raced through his body painfully causing his limbs to spasm and lock up.

He couldn't move.

 _He couldn't_ _move_ _!_

He could feel the creature, whatever it was, he couldn't see it though. Clawed legs digging into his back, shifting, odd gargling croaking calls – closer to those of a crow than the dragon or those odd barking purple and orange creatures earlier. He could hear answering calls from behind him towards the forest.

And something much bigger joining in.

No, no no no no NO!

He couldn't die here! He _wouldn't_ die here!

He snarled under his breath, circulating his chakra through his body faster and faster and _faster._ He had to get up. He HAD to! He refused to die here, refused to die without first having actually _lived_!

He yelled, hard and loud, pouring as much chakra as he could through his system, and then he rolled over – hand lashing out and grabbing the creature's pointed snout, heedless, or just not noticing, the two long fangs, one of which piercing his palm as he clawed his fingers into the alarmed beast's muzzle and wrenched it down to one side.

He rolled on top of its thrashing form, grabbing it under the jaw with his other hand and then _wrenched_ up and to the left – dragging his whole body with him.

There was a juicy cracking _pop_ noise – and the creature beneath him went still.

He dropped it, staggering backwards as he cradled his punctured hand close, panting.

He killed it.

Snapped its neck.

And then he saw more of them.

Bursting out of the scrub and shadows of trees further up the hill towards the forest, one, two, four, six – and a larger one, adult maybe? That same green and orange mottled stripe pattern, viper-like fangs from the roof of its upper lip, long wiry legs with three toed claws, one of which sticking up like a goring talon. Its head was shaped differently to the smaller ones, two almost wing-like bone ridges stretching out from its eyebrows to the back of its skull like a queer spade-like arrow head.

Naruto swallowed back the curse words that rose in his mouth, he turned and he ran.

Maybe there would be a ninja guard on that caravan? If not, at least mercenary guards with swords and some kind of weaponry to repel those things.

He staggered, slipping down one of the slope inclines, those odd creatures giving chase, shrieking and cawing after him.

His ribs were on fire. His vision was blurry. He felt like he had burns all throughout his insides – that chakra surge had done more damage than he thought it had.

"GET DOWN!"

He couldn't have disobeyed even if he wanted to.

His knees buckled and he tumbled to the ground in a painful heap as something swept overhead – he heard a reverberating PANG like gong, and a massive shriek of pain followed by a heavy thud.

Something clattered over him, and he felt heavy feet position themselves on either side of him, the sound of what he would hesitantly identify as metal, or bone, shifting and scraping over each other and something metallic.

"You're alright, kid. I won't let them hurt you," a male voice promised as Naruto squinted up, his eyesight blotchy and darkening at the corners.

Gold.

Armour made of gold. A face not much younger than Kakashi-sensei's, and long brown hair pulled back from a tanned, kindly smiling face. A heavy golden lance grasped in one hand, and a golden shield wider and taller than Naruto himself positioned protectively in front of them, its shiny surface decorated in a splatter of blood.

"You're safe now."

Black.

 _ **000**_

 **Dun dun dun! Yeah, sorry guys, no immediate badass Naruto, not yet. Give him a chance to recover properly and yeah sure, those Genprey are toast, but right now he's still suffering the effects of his harsh introduction to the ground courtesy of Jiraiya, and the mad run from the Rathian, plus the now internal chakra damage from cycling it too hard through his system to burn out the paralysis. Give him a good meal and a good nights' sleep and he'll be right as rain.**

 _ **000**_

MONSTER CORNER  
 _Just a little corner aside to feature what Monsters, Weapons, and Armour have appeared this chapter. When a new monster or armour is introduced, there will be a little information on them for those new to Monster Hunter. In subsequent appearances, there will just be a name and a chapter reference if you want to reread the extra info._

 **Jaggi:** The orange and purple raptor like creatures that first appeared. They are minor Bird Wyverns that hunt in packs with an Alpha Male leader known as the 'Great Jaggi', beta males are small, and skinny, and the primary vocalists in the pack. Females are larger and possess hanging frills more similar to that of a Labrador's floppy ears than the wide frills the Great Jaggi and its lesser male packmates the Jaggi. They are considered Minor Carnivores.

 **Rathian:** The green dragon. Part of the Wyvern Family, she is known as the Queen of the Land as unlike her male counterpart the Rathalos, she prefers to remain grounded at the nest, only taking to the air rarely for hunting and to protect her territory. Possessing poisonous claws and a spiked tail-mace, she also breathes fire and is shockingly agile in both air, and on land. Her signature move is a double backflip tail lash that both poisons and throws her targets a considerable distance away. Green Rathian is the more common species, rarer subspecies have been observed in the Pink Rathian, a hyper aggressive subspecies with stronger poison capabilities known as the Cherry Blossom Queen, and the exceptionally rare and secretive Gold Rathian.

 **Genprey/Gendrome:** The green and orange raptors. Larger than Jaggi, they hunt in groups under the control of an Alpha known as the Gendrome, possessing wide, almost winged, eyebrow ridges. Males and females are indistinguishable in the Gen-Family. Due to their colourings and patterns, most Genprey and Gendrome can be found in highly forested/jungle-like areas. Their large viper-like front teeth can cause paralysis and with their powerful legs, they are fond of leaping attacks.

 **Babel Spear:** The lance and shield currently within the possession of Naruto's saviour. A Rarity 4 Spear with an attack power in the three-hundreds, a Hidden Fire Affinity in the two-hundreds, and two Decoration Slots with a Sharpness Level going up to Blue with the right Skills.

 **Ingot Armour:** The golden armour worn by Naruto's saviour. A colour swapped version, and potentially High Rank, worn without the helmet. A Rarity 4 Armour at Highrank, its base Armour value is in the mid-hundreds with a Maximum Armour value in the five hundreds. It possesses the skills Defence Up (S), Critical Eye plus One, and Windproof Low. Plus ten Water Resistance, minus fifteen Lightning Resistance, minus ten Ice Resistance, and minus five Fire Resistance. No Dragon Resist or penalty.


	3. Chapter 3

**Jaegar**

 _ **000**_

Believing himself forsaken by the Sandaime after a training accident with Jiraiya where he fails to summon Gamabunta in time, Naruto strikes out alone in search of a new life, but finds that plans go awry, his and others, and now Naruto is lost in another world entirely. "What do you mean 'There's no such thing as FIRE COUNTRY'?!"

 **Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate crossover.**

Naruto/OC  
 **(You will never know)**

 **Features:**  
Streetwise!Survivor!Common-sense!Disillusioned!Stubborn!Naruto,  
OCs, AU from Chuunin exam Break onward, slight Konoha!Bashing (Unintentional, but it may come across this way, hence the warning), Monster Hunter!Master Race (lol), Chakra!dues ex machina.

 _ **I do not own Naruto, nor do I own Harry Potter. Please do not redistribute my work without permission.**_

 _ **000**_

 **CHAPTER THREE**

Waking up and feeling like crap was getting to be a running theme. One he found that he didn't like.

Naruto groaned softly as he slowly came to, like wading through thick molasses he eventually managed to squint his eyes open, grimacing at the bright shaft of light that flashed overhead and glared into his aching eyes. The not so distant sounds of the market outside however, did not let him just roll over and go back to sleep. There was a breeze tickling over his face and a smell that put him in mind of cooking meats, sand, heat, sweat, and cats.

Turning his head away from the painful light, he opened them again, grimacing as they itched. Eventually they adjusted and he found himself looking around some kind of weird tent, or... no this was a caravan. A _big_ one actually. Wide wooden arches of polished wood with metal braces held heavy leather canvas overhead. Barrels and boxes were stacked hither and yon, the floor was decorated with rugs and tapestries. An odd board made of wooden slats and bone was towards the front, and he could see hammocks too small for humans hung overhead – were they for supplies? Looked unsteady and potentially dangerous to be honest. There was an open red box to his left and he could see the glint of something gold within, and a cat, perched upon his/her hind legs peering out from its otherside at him.

Gold...

"AHH! THAT GUY!" Naruto yelped as he shot upright, only to flinch and groan in pain, curling in on himself.

"Stupid! Stop Meowving!" a voice suddenly exclaimed, "You've sustained severe injuries!"

Naruto flinched as something slapped him on the leg, he blinked down at the speaker and found his brain stalling for all of a heartbeat. It was the cat.

A talking cat.

Must be a summon.

"Where am I, 'ttebayo?" he asked instead, voice rasping even as the cat fussed with the bandages around his chest and shoulder – and wow, he must have been out of it to not realise that he was dressed only in his skivvies.

"You're in Val Habar, nya," the chocolate point feline explained, ears flicking unhappily as it observed the wounds on his chest and shoulder. "Meow, they're healing well enough. Here, drink this and you'll be as good as nyew," the cat told him as it turned away and hopped to the red box on the otherside of the room, rummaging around inside before producing a bottle of something green.

Handing it over, Naruto squinted into it, holding it up to the light. Mysterious green liquid aside, it was carbonated somehow, and he could definitely see a honey-comb inside too.

"Well, don't just stare at it, bottoms up!" the cat scolded, "Meowster wouldn't have gone to all the effort of saving you if he planned to poison you neow," it scoffed before hopping off out of the caravan, likely as not to tell its... 'meowster'? that he was awake.

Oh well, down the hatch. The cat had a point.

With a grimace, expecting some horrible concoction like the Academy Nurse used to dole out, he pulled the cork on the bottle, and chugged it. He wasn't expecting it to taste like sweet-mint. It was actually quite good!

"Ah, good, Minty's seen to you then," a male voice spoke, making him jump slightly and nearly spill the green drink over the bedspread.

It was the guy that saved him, out of his shiny gold armour, he was a powerfully built man not unlike Asuma-sensei with friendly green eyes and long brown hair. He wore baggy navy blue hakama, a sleeveless blue shirt, and an odd sepia coloured wrap around his waist. He smiled kindly as he stepped into the caravan fully, letting the curtain fall shut behind him as he pulled over a barrel to the bed and sat himself down.

"How are you feeling? Any aches, sharp pains, wooziness?" he asked casting a look over Naruto's wrapped torso.

The red head frowned, he had felt awful upon waking up but right now... He stretched himself a little, moving his arms carefully and then with curiosity and intent as the aches and sharp pains he expected simply didn't happen. All he felt right now was -

"No. But... I am hungry," he admitted wrapping an arm around his stomach with a grimace. It had been, what... He hadn't eaten the morning Jiraiya... so that was one day, and then he spent near enough two, perhaps three, unconscious in that thicket, making it four... today would be late into day four, or early into day five.

The man laughed, "Well, once we have you washed and dressed, I'll take you to the street cook. I'm sure she can rustle something up for you," he assured the Nukenin. "Let's get those bandages off, and then Minty will bring your clothes. I hope you don't mind, but you were out of it so long she took the liberty of giving them a clean," he explained before snapping his fingers, "Ah yes, and a certain someone has been very noisy and impatient about getting to see you," he added before the curtain pulled back and a man dressed in a red jacket with a yellow neckscarf came in. Cupped in his hands was a familiar yellow canary currently twittering up a storm.

"Hikaru!" Naruto exclaimed with a guilty start. He had forgotten about the canary completely.

"Little Feller here's not stopped complainin' since we pulled him outta yer shirt," the new man exclaimed with a good-natured laugh, grinning widely at Naruto from a weather beaten face with teeth just a shade too white to be normal. With surprisingly gentle hands, the guy in the red jacket slid the fluttering bird into Naruto's palms. "Now, onto the serious business. Just what on Rathian's Green Wood were you doin' wondering around a Huntin' ground, kiddo?" he asked, folding his arms and squinting sternly at him. "Yer lucky we happened ta be trundlin' by or them Genprey would'a had you fer lunch."

Naruto spluttered thinking hard, hunting ground suggested 'private property', which meant he could hardly use the excuse of being from a merchant caravan that got robbed. He um'ed and er'ed like he did back in the Academy faced with a red faced Iruka, avoiding eye contact as he scrambled for a believable lie.

"Well, the important thing is that we were, and you're healing up nicely. Let's not worry about the little things," the brown haired man soothed when he took too long to answer, ignoring the way his friend shot him a look of disbelief before throwing his hands up with a heavy rolling of his eyes and a grunt of frustration. "I'm Nile. This is Rayleigh."

"Naruto, dattebayo," the red head blurted out before he could censure himself – so used to shouting his name to the skies in the hopes that the people around him would _stop_ calling him 'Beast', 'Boy', 'Brat', 'Trash', 'Loser', or 'Deadlast'. His real name spilled from his lips like verbal diarrhoea and he could have cursed himself for it.

Rayleight rubbed his salt-and pepper beard, "Naruto Dattebayo, eh? Sounds Eastern. Wyvernian if anything. Say, kiddo, where were ya headin' afore we saved yer Kelbi-Kibble?" he asked, adjusting his battered hat.

Well, in for a Ryo...

"I – I was heading to Wave Country. Old Man Tazuna wanted me to do some work for him after the last time I helped him out. My sensei was too busy with my teammate so I decided to take the month off to go see what the old Geezer needed. I fell off a cliff, and I must'a hit my head pretty hard because I got lost trying to hike my way there and ended up stumbling into that forest," he explained in a garbled rush of half-truths and misleading truths, and out and out lies. All rolled into one ugly blurted out package that sometimes even Ji- Hokage-sama bought.

Nile hummed folding his arms and he leaned back on his barrel looking up at Rayleigh, "What's the Eastern for Wave Country?" he asked curiously.

"Hrrm, Tsunami? No, Nami no Kuni. I ain't never heard of a place called that though... Coastal most probably," Rayleigh theorised, scratching his beard.

"Minty, if you could dig out the World Map please?" Nile asked, leaning further back to look at his cat.

She nodded and bowed, "Of course, Meowster. And if I may, the young one is all skin and bones, he needs feeding up, nya. Shall I get something from the Street Cook for him?" she asked as she rummaged behind the red box and produced a length of rolled up paper.

"Thank you, Minty. And that's quite alright. I was planning on taking him after we were done here," he assured the feline who hiffed slightly through her nose before nodding and stepping out of the Caravan. Nile smiled at him before unrolling the map across his knees, "Now, where abouts on here would you say this Nami no Kuni is?" he asked smoothing a hand over the canvas.

Naruto squinted at the map, "Oi, old man, I think your cat got the wrong map," he pointed out, "Is this from some kind of game?" he asked peering at the strange characters that labelled odd locations on the illustrated sheet. Heh, there were even sea-monsters drawn into the waves, cool.

Nile peered down at it, "No, it's the right map. This is us here, Val Habar. This is where we found you, just outside of the Ancestral Steppes," he explained, gently tracing the map points just south of a place with an illustration of a large city in a wall.

Naruto shook his head, "Nah, you gotta it wrong, Ossan. This can't be the world map, it looks completely wrong!" he exclaimed, "Where's Fire Country? An' Earth? And Wind Country! That one's nearly impossible to miss, it's nothing but desert!" he exclaimed jabbing a finger at the map in confusion and shaking his head again.

"Can't say I've ever heard of a place called Fire Country," Rayleigh admitted before laughing, "Could certainly _describe_ some o' tha' places we've gone through, hah haha!"

Naruto rolled his eyes in mounting frustration before he flipped the map over, "You got a brush or somethin'?" he demanded shortly.

Nile glanced at him, then the blank face of the canvas and got to his feet. He dragged out a length of blank leather and some kind of vivid pink berry, "No pens, but as long as you don't squeeze it too hard a Paintberry is a good substitute," he offered as he took the map and gave him the blank leather to draw on instead.

The red head huffed a little but accepted them. With swift movements, he began to sketch the World map that he memorised in the Academy, starting first with Water Country, moving through to Mori no Kuni, Cha no Kuni, then Fire Country, River, Wind, cycling up through Rain, Stone, Bird, Earth, Grass, Waterfall, Rice, Frost, Lightning, Hot Water, Whirlpool, Iron, and then ending, finally, on Snow. With the outlines of the countries laid out, he began dotting and labelling the major landmarks. Major villages, Cities where the Daimyous' lived, famous battle grounds, natural wonders, mountain ranges and forest, shrines, ruins. He never let anyone know, but when he had been younger he had researched other countries extensively, looking at anywhere that wasn't Konoha, filled with those cold hateful eyes that glared at him. Back before he dried his tears and told himself he didn't care. Back before he found out the penalty for traitors.

"Well, you've got an eye fer detail," Rayleigh complimented as he observed the map taking root under his eyes, "But I've been travelling these roads for thirty years and never seen any o' this," he stated bluntly.

"But – you _have_ to have!" Naruto protested, distressed. "Look, this is the cliff I got thrown off. Kiba Gorge! I left the south side, heading towards Nami here! It hasn't even been a day since I woke up! We should be about here, Mori no Kuni, just outside of Fire Country."

Rayleigh shook his head, looking at him with rising pity, "Kid. There IS no Fire Country."

 _ **000**_

Val Habar was stained in golds and reds from the setting sun. The hot arid hair beginning to turn cold, the wind possessing a _bite_ of chill as it swept through the steadily filling streets.

Night was when things truly came alive here.

Naruto, perched on top of the Caravan that had been kind enough to rescue him, was near enough catatonic. Staring dully out at the desert, eyes blind, as he tried to digest what had happened earlier.

There was no such thing as Fire Country. How was that even _possible_? Seriously. He _hadn't_ been imagining the last ten years of his life, it was kind of impossible. He even used the Dispelling technique, bit his thumb just in case it was a Genjutsu over B-rank, nothing. Nile even took him, and his map, to the Guild Caravan, the huge building at the bottom of the market that looked like a ship with wheels. He showed both Naruto and his map to the Guild Master, a tiny wrinkled guy with floppy pointed ears, claws, and DRAGON LEGS. None of which anyone even _blinked_ at!

Then there were the 'Hunters'. When the Guild Master didn't recognise any of the landmasses or locations, he called out to the other occupants of the Guild Hall. Men and women in elaborate armours made of fur, leather, scales, bone, insect carapace, metal ores, crystals? And the weapons Naruto saw. Lances, bows and arrows, daikatanas, huge slabs of metal like Zabuza's Kubikiri Honcho. Twin blades that looked like teeth, a weird axe-sword thing, instruments – he saw a lady walking around with a shiny blue and green handheld BELL the same size as _he_ was strapped to her back. There was one guy, drinking steadily at the table, with what was unmistakably a shark. A goddamn SHARK strapped to his back, and a little round wooden shield made from a 'No Swimming' sign on his arm. Either hunters had a fantastic sense of humour, or a really shitty one. He was still trying to decide.

But none of them knew Fire Country either. They didn't recognise the map, the coastline, the countries, none of it. The Cat summons didn't either, and they just got offended when he asked about the other Summon creatures, and whether or not they could return to their Head and ask them to contact the Toads.

No one knew Fire Country. Or Konoha.

They didn't even know about Ninja, even if they knew about Samurai ("Those Eastern Noble guys who like to play around with swords for fun. Them. I suppose they exist, not much good in a fight though. All honourable and stuff, they get bent out of shape over the weirdest of shit.").

He was silent as Nile gently steered him out from the Guild Hall. He couldn't even finish the meal that the nice lady who ran the kitchen stall made for him, he picked at it, unable to finish it even as she gently tried to urge him to have just a little more, that he hadn't eaten for a long time. Her daughter peering out from behind her legs, watching him the whole time with large brown eyes.

"I dyed my hair for nothing," he muttered somewhat inanely, that one, stupid, useless little fact somehow clinging to his brain throughout all this. He had dyed his hair to avoid Hunter Nin. Hunter Nin that apparently didn't exist here, and couldn't follow him here.

"I was wondering why your hair was Paintberry red," Nile's voice admitted as Naruto heard the creak of the Caravan and felt the faint shift of fabric beneath him as the larger man climbed up beside him. "May I join you?" he asked politely.

He shrugged, "S'your Caravan thing," he muttered softly as he watched a group of Hunters pass by, laughing and joking, one of them being carried by a friend, and a third one dragging a cart filled with barrels, boxes, and sacks. They were saying something about barrel bombs and pissed off felines.

He felt Nile come up beside him and sit heavily, he didn't say anything as he leaned back where he was, letting his legs dangle off the edge and observed the busy street below. The Street Cook was doing a lot of business with the hungry returning Hunters, her daughter running around collecting dirty cups and dishes, delivering meals at her mother's command with the help of a pair of Felynes. He could see their Wyvernian Blacksmith, Mamoru, examining some Diablos horns that a girl in Barroth armour presented to him. Rayleigh was laughing with the Guild Master, knocking back alcohol as the two of them occupied a rug that Minty had thrown out onto the paving for the night's festivities. He had a feeling he would be having to pour his old friend into his bed later that night.

The silence stretched out comfortably as the two watched the sun set, and the stars rise, torches were lit, and music began to play as the Hunters got drunk and took up their Hunting Horns. Nile found himself chuckling as a few of the more exuberant individuals down below began to perform tricks, from dancing on the tables, to juggling swords.

"I spoke it over with Rayleigh," he suddenly said, dragging Naruto's morose attention back to him from where he had been staring at the Street Cook's firepit. "He says you're welcome to travel with us until we find your Fire Country. He's never one to turn down an adventure, that man. So don't worry. It may take some time, but we'll get you home."

Naruto grimaced as the man smiled so earnestly and warmly at him in the torch-light from Val Habar.

"I want to go home, but..." he turned away, hugging his knees bitterly, "...they don't want me there," he admitted softly. If he did show up, would they try to pretend that Jiraiya was acting without orders? That it was somehow _his_ fault that he nearly died? Somehow his own stupidity or ineptitude caused it? Or would they just try to get rid of him anyway? Could he risk it? Going back?

Did he want to?

"Well, you're welcome to stay with us regardless. We're not going to turf you out, or abandon you, Naruto," Nile reassured him, gently placing a firm, heavy, _warm_ hand on his shoulder. "I saved your life earlier, in these here parts, that makes you my responsibility until such a time as you decide otherwise." He gave the twelve year old's bony shoulder a gentle squeeze, mindful of Minty's warning that he was delicate.

Naruto twitched a small, bitter smile. When had anyone decided that he was their responsibility? When had they ever followed through on that? Nile seemed honest though, earnest. And definitely not the type to lie. Not purposefully anyway.

"Thanks."

He felt another squeeze on his shoulder before the hand dropped away.

The two stayed on top of the Caravan quietly enjoying the evening as the people of Val Habar revelled below them under a clear, star filled night.

And if Naruto cried a little, Nile didn't call him on it as the tears streamed down his whiskered cheeks without shame.

 _ **000**_

"You are meowch too thin, nya. Eat all of your breakfast!" Minty scolded as she swatted at his hand.

Naruto grimaced, distressed, "But if I eat anymore, I'll throw up!" he exclaimed, genuinely upset that he couldn't finish his meal. It was just so... _rich_. He didn't know what it was about the meal, but sweet Kami, not only was it delicious, but it filled him up unlike anything he had ever placed into his mouth before! Normally it took twelve bowls of Old Man Teuchi's best pork ramen with extra broth and cutlets to get him this bloated – his belly button was _sore_! But here, he couldn't even finish _one_ breakfast bowl!

After crying himself out last night, Naruto had curled up and fallen sleep on the roof of the Caravan and woke up in the same bed he had the day before. Somewhen during the night, Nile had carried him down and put him to bed without waking him (somehow), and then promptly taken a spot on the floor – Naruto very nearly stepped on his face when he tried to get up to relieve himself.

Right now, everyone was sat at the Street Cook's stall again, the smiling dark haired woman serving various breakfasts and beverages to the early rising men and women as they stretched and staggered out of their tents, pavilions, and Caravans to start a new day. Naruto was introduced to their small motley Caravan group, not that there were many of them.

Rayleigh Morris, head of the Caravan, also known as the Caravaneer he declared with a self-important grin as he puffed up, tipping his hat to the Street Cook's daughter, making her giggle and hide behind one of the shelving units.

Mamoru, a huge being with pointed ears, claws, but didn't have the same dragon legs as the Guild Master. Nile explained that Mamoru was something called a Wyvernian, an ancient and noble race of humanoids that were part dragon and very skilled with metal craft and other mechanical and creative industries. In fact, all of their Caravans had been designed, made, and put together _by_ Mamoru, earning him the nickname of ' _The Man_ ' from Rayleigh.

Nile was the group's protector, their Hunter ("I'm technically G-rank, so I should be on attachment to Dundorma. But I owe Rayleigh a lot, and if I wasn't there to haul his backside out of the fire, I'd be worried about what trouble he was getting into," Nile explained with a chuckle as the Caravaneer tried to wheedle something alcoholic out of the Street Cook, only to get a wooden spoon to his knuckles and a sound scolding about drinking in the morning).

He was reminded of Minty's name, the housekeeper Felyne explaining that there were two other Felynes also part of their group, Palico Fighters, who would typically join Nile out on Quests, but were, at present, tending to personal business elsewhere, he was told that the white one was called Diamond, and the brown one was called Sable. He would be sharing sleeping space with them when they returned so he was to mind his manners, and his feet, and not step on anyone's tails. Literally.

And finally he was introduced to an older woman in a green uniform with red hair called Ann Messenger. She was apparently something called a Guild Marm.

"I handle the quests that Nile takes on," she explained gently as Naruto tilted his head in confusion, "Basically, when the Guild get jobs, they forward the information onto the Guild Outposts that are best suited for it. For travelling Caravans like us, we tend to receive the lion's share of the more awkwardly located quests. I'll receive them thanks to our Palico Messenger friend there, the chocolate point in the red uniform, yes him," she confirmed when Naruto pointed to the cream and brown cat to the far left sluggishly chewing his way through a grilled fish, red cap on crookedly and hanging off an ear. "I'll then sort through them and post them up on the Guild Message board for Nile to check through. When he selects a Quest, I'll approve it, give him his papers, and then send a Quest acceptance form to the local Guild so they know it's taken. When the Quest is complete, the Guild take over from there."

Naruto nodded thoughtfully, "It sounds a lot like the Mission Office back home. Only we don't kill Monsters," he admitted. It was sounding a lot like the way Ninja missions were run, "Clients come, post their jobs through the Village, and when we come in, we're either given the Mission best suited to our talents or allowed to choose through them. Once we've selected one, the village approves it, processes the paperwork, and off we go. Do you have to write Mission reports afterwards?" he asked, grimacing a little in remembrance of the nightmare of papers he had after Wave. A C-rank turned A-rank generated a lot of paperwork and After Mission Reports, all of which had to be done in triplicate.

Ann laughed, "No, sweetheart. Only Expeditions require After Action Reports, but they're fairly simple. Regular Guild Quests, or even Local Application Quests don't generate any paperwork beyond Quest Acceptance papers, and perhaps Commendations if they're particularly dangerous, or even above and beyond the call of duty."

"Sweet!" Naruto grinned. No more paperwork, oh yeah.

Nile chuckled, "Not a fan of the written word?"

Naruto shrugged, "It's alright, I guess. Reading's boring though. And everyone always gets on me about my handwriting. S'not like any of them even offered to help me improve it though," he muttered resentfully. He didn't have a mum or a dad to help him neaten it up, and until Iruka-sensei, most of the teachers would have rather chugged drain cleaner than help him. And it was hard to find reading interesting when you didn't understand anything that was written. It was a wonder he ever managed to get anything done when Kanji were just beyond him. He recognised a few of them, but for the most part, it was just gibberish symbols smacked into the middle of a sentence without meaning.

The red head hummed, and gently patted his hand, "Well, if you're willing, I don't have much to do while Nile is off on Hunts. I can help you, if you'd like?" she offered smiling warmly.

The twelve year old stiffened and looked up at her in shock, she would really be willing to -

Of course she would, she didn't _know_ about Kyuubi. She didn't _care_. He was just some kid they picked up, not the container of the most powerful Bijuu. There was nothing and no one here to hate him for things he had no control over, because they just didn't _know_ about them.

"Y-yeah. Please. I'd – I'd like that," he managed to get out, a blinding grin stealing over his face.

The rest of breakfast passed quietly as everyone finished eating, Minty trying to encourage Naruto to eat more much to the shinobi's dismay as he honestly couldn't handle another bite. Nile snagged the left overs and downed them in one go, patting Naruto on the head as he got to his feet and announced that he was going to drop by the Guild Hall to check for anything Urgent that needed doing.

"We're going to need some extra coin now I think," he admitted with a kindly smile as he stretched, popping several spine joints as he did so.

Naruto grimaced as he realised that _he_ was the reason for that need.

"Can anyone be a Hunter?" he asked, peering up at Ann as she sipped her tea peacefully.

The red head nodded, "Of course. But the minimum age requirement for registration is twenty."

So _old_?!

"HEY – HEY, THAT'S MESSED UP, DATTEBAYO!" the red head roared, jumping to his feet, startling everyone. "I'M TOTALLY OLD ENOUGH TO BE A HUNTER!" he bellowed, making a few of the near-by Hunters chuckle and giggle, even Ann snickered behind her hand as he fumed, flailing his arms and loudly proclaiming his awesomeness and how he was _definitely_ strong enough to be a Hunter if he was strong enough to be a Ninja.

"You barely survived those Genprey, Naruto," she reminded him gently as she caught his elbow and pulled him down into his seat.

"Yeah, but I didn't know they were there! We don't HAVE those things back home! I know better now! I could TOTALLY take them!" he proclaimed self-assuredly. He needed the money, and he refused to be carried, or become a burden to the Caravan. Especially to Nile who had been the most awesome friend he'd ever met outside of Iruka-sensei.

Ann chuckled, "It's a legal requirement, Naruto. The Guild doesn't like to see children go off on Hunts only to get hurt. It gives them a bad reputation. If you want to earn some extra money though, I'm sure there are people in Val Habar who could do with the help. I know that Mamoru sometimes needs some help with his forge work, and Ayla, the street cook, could do with an extra set of hands during the day. There's plenty you can do here while we get you up to snuff for Hunting," she told him soothingly before she laid a book on the table. "Now, I believe I said I would help you with your reading and writing while Nile was Hunting. Would you like to go through a bit now? This is the Guild Handbook, it details various Hunting methods, useful item combinations, and how the Guild works."

Naruto grimaced at the thought of book work already, but he had nothing better to do.

"Alright," he muttered as he dragged his chair closer and peered over her elbow. "...Wait..." he muttered, eyes widening in horror as he stared down at her book.

"The HELL KIND OF LANGUAGE IS THAT?!"

 _ **000**_

 **Ahaha, he may be able to speak the same language, but reading it? Nope. Basically, I'm pegging Monster Hunter to have English alphabet and writing, and Naruto's Ningenkai to have Japanese.**

 **More to come later.**

All the character names are mine, I couldn't find references of their real names so I just headcanoned them as seen above. X3

 **MONSTER CORNER**

 **Dios Bell:** The blue and green bell weapon, rarity four, attack power 780 with 160 in Blast Element, green sharpness, blue with the right skills.

 **Sharq Byte:** The shark lance with it's little No Swimming sign shield. Rarity two at creation, it has one slot, 184 in attack power, but 420 in Water Element damage. It starts with green sharpness, moving up to blue with the right skills.


	4. Chapter 4

**Jaegar**

 _ **000**_

 **CHAPTER FOUR**

Naruto spent the morning with Ann at the Street Cook's stall. She took him through the alphabet, the sounds, and wrote several basic words down for him, the keywords he would need to know, and then slowly, painstakingly, went through the Hunter's Manual with him. Naruto would struggle through as best he could with the unfamiliar letters, attempting to sound them out, nine times out of ten getting them wrong, with Ann gently correcting him as he went. Once they finished a paragraph, she would have him reread it without her help, and if he got something wrong, she would wait until he finished before rereading the paragraph to him, her finger under each word so he could imprint it on his mind.

He was right to think the Hunter's Guild was very similar to the Mission Office at Konoha, but there were noticeable differences he realised. The paperwork process, what little of it there was, was considerably more streamlined compared to Konoha – not that Naruto knew a _lot_ about the administrative side of things, but he had seen and experienced enough of it to find the lack of paperwork, and the large amount of information provided on each Guild Quest, startling.

He asked if they got incorrect information about Quests from people attempting to cut their fees but apparently the Guild have a team of Scout Palicos, specifically combat trained Felynes not unlike Minty, to verify location and information. No one bothered to try and cheat their Mission requests because it would just mean it wouldn't be fulfilled and then the Guild would get angry when their Hunters died over a handful of Zenny. It was a universally held opinion that lives were more important than money, hence why Palico Rescuers were also part of hunts. If a Hunter looked to be in a bad way, or knocked unconscious, they quickly lured the monster being hunted to one side, and swiftly rescued the Hunter. They operated on a strict three strikes system, if they had to cart your ass back to the base-camp three times, the third time they were just going to cart you back home. Your life was more important than the Quest. Someone higher ranked can pick it up later. This level of regard for life was... alien. But so very, very amazing to him.

But what was most surprising of all, culture shocks aside, was that the Guild _pre-dated_ Konoha, the Clan wars, even recorded history, by hundreds of years. To someone whose country's known, recorded, history was barely even two centuries, and patchy at best, to be told there was literally _THOUSANDS_ of years' worth of known History was mind boggling. And not all of it was even human. There were beings _older_ than Konoha within spitting distance of where he was eating his breakfast!

Apparently, aside from Monsters, humans, and the dragon guys, Wyvernians, there were also Felynes – bipedal cats like Minty, and Miss Ayla's kitchen assistants; Shakalakas, an odd group of kleptomaniac gremlins whose whole culture was centred around masks; Trovarians, broad, squat, hairy, and very strong beings with tough skin, wiry hair, and uncommonly strong backs; and the Sea People, humanoid with marked skin darker across their backs and paler along their fronts, webbed hands and webbed feet, some even possessed gills for breathing underwater though others had become vestigial and useless.

They all, somehow, managed to live in a measure of peace – well, with the exception of most Shakalaka tribes who didn't like anyone, humans especially.

It wasn't long after lunch that Ann saw his interest beginning to flag in a bad way and laughed, "I think we'll call it there for the day," she decided, closing her manual with a soft clap of pages.

Naruto grimaced guiltily, "Sorry. It _is_ interesting! It is, 'ttebayo!" he exclaimed anxiously.

Ann chuckled, "It's fine, honestly, Naruto. It is. Not everyone learns well from books. We'll just keep things to a little and often, how's that?" she asked, "Besides, I'm sure you want to explore, right?"

He had been that obvious, huh?

Naruto giggled a little nervously as he rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. He had been watching the Hunters come and go from the corner of his eye since the lesson started, and he _had_ tried his best to turn all of his attention onto her but... He saw a lady walking past with a massive violin made of bug-parts strapped to her back. And there was the dude in the weird spongy yellow coat sprinting past with another guy wearing blue fur on his back, bleeding heavily, staining his yellow coat red and brown.

"There's someone I'd like you to meet," Ann said as she got to her feet, Naruto blinked curiously as he scrambled up to follow her. They didn't go far, just to one of the caravan stalls behind the hot-plates. Ann knocked and a few moments later, a dark haired little girl in a yellow sundress opened it up, the Street Cook's daughter. "Naruto, this is Penny, Miss Ayla's daughter. Penny, this is mine and Nile's new charge, Naruto. He's new to Val Habar and I was wondering if you would be willing to spend the afternoon with him and show him around?" Ann asked kindly.

The girl looked between them and nodded, "Okay! Just let me tell Mum," she said before quickly ducking back into the Caravan and surfacing a moment later with a small satchel and a pair of sandals on her feet. They made a quick stop off at the street cook's where Ayla said they were alright to go and play before handing them both a lunchbox and turning to serve a group of four Hunters and a woman from the general item stall.

"Think you two will be alright on your own?" Ann asked as they meandered back towards their little area.

"Uh huh," Penny agreed.

"Yup," Naruto nodded emphatically.

"Alright, have fun you two. Just promise me you won't leave Val Habar, alright?" the red headed Guild Marm requested sternly, giving Naruto in specific a hard look. "It's dangerous out there."

"We won't! Promise!" the little dark haired girl exclaimed.

"Naruto?" the older woman prompted.

He grimaced, "S'not like there's anywhere for me _to_ go, 'ttebayo," he grumbled sourly, looking away. That was still a bitter thought that lingered on in the back of his head, and likely would continue to do so for many, _many_ years to come – what if he _never_ got back home? No, he couldn't think like that! He slapped both his cheeks and forced a wide grin onto his face, flashing Ann a big thumbs up, "We won't leave the village! Not until we have permission!" he swore earnestly, cheeks aching. But he didn't promise. Because if he caught wind of a way back to Fire Country... he would take it, no hesitation.

Ann smiled, looking a little concerned as she eyed him carefully, "Alright, you two have fun now. Be back before sunset, alright?"

The two nodded enthusiastically before scampering away and leaving the Guild Marm to quietly go about digging out her personal savings. Naruto was going to need some new clothes, and blankets, they were going to need a variety of beginner weapons to get him started on Hunting, and a number of books so he could get used to the written word. She knew of a good adventure novels that she really liked, hopefully Naruto would take a shine to them too. The weapons were going to be expensive though. Perhaps she should ask the locals for their Rank 1 blades? She knew they wouldn't mind donating to the next generation of Hunters. Then there was bedding, grooming and personal hygiene requirements, oh Fatalis, she hadn't the faintest idea of what a preteen would need, she sighed and made a mental note to check in with Ayla. She was a mother, she would have some vague idea, even if she had a daughter instead of a son.

"So, where do you want to go?" Penny asked as they made their way down the main street, her sandaled feet kicking up tiny puffs of sand as she went. "You want to hang out at the Hunter's Guild, or play with the other kids?" she continued, her voice so carefully neutral that Naruto could already tell that spending time with the other children was fairly far from what she actually wanted to do.

Naruto shrugged, "The Guild. Why not," he agreed quirking half a smile when the girl squealed happily and began to lead him towards the Hunters Guild.

"We're not actually allowed inside, but there's an open space out front where a lot of the Hunters relax or handle their weapons between hunts," Penny explained as they dodged past a young man and woman in strangely matching green and red armour. Naruto squinted at the woman; some of that stuff looked vaguely reminiscent of that dragon that chased him in the forest, the same colour and shape to the scales.

"Hey Pen, who's yer friend?" a young woman in green leather asked as they came to a stop beside an odd almost table-like set up with barrels and boxes down to the side of the wheeled-ship that was the Guild Hall and the tent walls of a stall selling spices. Several men and women were scattered about in the shade, either sprawled out on reed mats, perched on barrels, or sat up to 'tables' made of boxes fiddling with brightly coloured things, plants, glass bottles, odd metal tubes, and what looked like seed pods the size of his clenched fist.

"Hi Autumn," Penny greeted, smiling brightly at the dark haired woman. She was pretty, Naruto decided, with wild curly dark hair like Kurenai-sensei, and pleasant earthy brown eyes, her skin was the darkest he'd ever seen though, like the dark parts on hazelnuts. She was pretty chunky, not fat like he'd seen some merchant women, but like an Akimichi Chuunin he saw bodily tossing someone out of a bar once. Built like she could take, and throw, one hell of a punch. "This is Naruto Dattebayo, he's staying with Mister Morris and the rest of the guys from his Caravan," she introduced as she hunkered down beside the woman, smoothing her dress over her knees.

Naruto pulled a face, "It's Uzumaki!" he protested hotly, "The name's Naruto Uzumaki, dattebayo!"

"Oh you have a middle name?" Penny asked in interest.

He shook his head, "No! It's JUST Naruto Uzumaki!"

Autumn laughed and ruffled Penny's hair, "Sounds like you just have a verbal tic, little man. No worries. I'm Autumn, no last name. I use Long Swords. These useless lay-abouts are Arsais, Switch Axe wielder," she introduced, gesturing to a man in an odd mix of white armour that possessed enlarged shoulder-pads and a pointy chest plate with orange and brown markings and spikes, a green belt and orange trousers. There was a big weapon next to him that seemed to have an axe blade on one side and a sword on the other. Cool. "Claire, she's an Insect Glaive user," she said nodding to a pale lady with honey blonde hair in a high ponytail wearing white and navy-blue leathers, beside her was a staff seemingly made of bone and in her lap was a brightly coloured stag-beetle that hummed every now and again. "And lastly, but certainly the most annoying, Dalagonash, he uses hammers because he has a fetish for swinging heavy things around," she finished, pulling a face at a man in what looked to be the full armour set of what the first guy was wearing. The white spiky armour with the big shoulder pads and the orange and brown bits. He had a big war hammer next to him, it was bigger than Naruto's torso and wickedly spiked front to back.

"You're just upset that I won't swing my other heavy thing around in _your_ batter's box," the hammer user quipped with a dirty smirk, visible only because his helmet was in his lap, dark green hair a spiky mop over one blue eye as he grinned up at her with a face patterned by black tribal markings.

The woman in green kicked out at him, "There are _kids_ present, you shit-cake!" she snapped.

"I've heard worse," Naruto attempted to reassure her as he pulled up a section of dirt to sit on, "You're all Hunters?" he asked curiously.

Autumn nodded, "Sure are. What about you? Word is that there's no Hunters' Guild where you're from."

Naruto grimaced and drew his knees up to his chest, "Apparently where I'm from doesn't even exist," he complained darkly. He kicked his legs out before anyone could really respond to that, "Keh! I'll get back some day!" he declared loudly with a great deal more conviction and certainty than he actually felt.

"That's the Spirit," Arsais mumbled yawning widely.

"If you don't have a Guild, how do you handle the Monsters?" Penny asked with wide-eyed fascination as she leaned forward on her box. Naruto shrugged awkwardly.

"We don't have any. 'Cept for Bijuu and Summons. Though I suppose some of the stuff in the Forest of Death could count as Monsters," he mused thoughtfully, "We got Ninja instead. S'what I was. Genin, they're kinda the lowest on the hierarchy. We get put in teams of three under a Senior Ninja called a Jounin to do beginner D-rank missions. But our team is totally awesome! Our first C-rank mission turned into an A-rank!" he bragged excitedly as he waved his arms to his audience. The girls made interested noises and that was _more_ than enough for Naruto to launch into his excited rendition of how they saved old man Tazuna, liberated Wave Country from Gatou, and the tragic story of both Haku and Zabuza whom they had to lay to rest.

"But why was Haku hated so much, if he was so nice?" Penny asked, wide eyed.

"He came from a special family. He had special abilities like my teammate Sasuke, and the people in his country were scared of him because of it. They killed his mother and tried to kill him too but couldn't. Zabuza was the first person to ever like him and it was _because_ of his special power, so Zabuza was really important to him, his Most Precious Person," Naruto explained seriously. Precious People were _VERY_ important. You didn't joke around about them.

"What's a Jutsu though?" Dalagonash asked frowning.

"It's a Ninja technique! Here, I'll show you!" Naruto cheered jumping to his feet. Everyone always acted like whatever Jutsus he did were crappy simply because _he_ was the one doing them – he wasn't dumb! He knew damn well that maybe one in a hundred Chuunin could pull off Kage Bunshin, and not even Kakashi-sensei could do more than fifteen of them at once! And he _started_ on Taijuu Kage Bunshin! Something that _ONLY_ Kage Level Ninja should even attempt because of the insane Chakra requirements! It was _why_ he chose it for his first Jutsu to learn! He thought that if he showed them he was capable of Kage Jutsus they'd see how awesome he was and they'd _have_ to at least promote him to Genin – though if the Old Man whipped off his hat and gave it to him then and there he _definitely_ wouldn't have said no! Hehehe.

"Kage Bunshin!" he yelled excitedly, going through all of the handseals for once, so he could better show off for his audience.

With a big puff of smoke, suddenly there were three of him. Two clones and he himself.

Claire fell off her barrel with quite a foul swear-word while Penny squealed in astonishment, breaking out into applause. All three Narutos preened under the positive attention, they rubbed the back of their necks before dropping into theatrical bows, doffing imaginary hats to her.

"Oh my god! That can't be real!" Autumn shouted practically launching herself at the three. She patted all of them, touching and examining and shaking her head. "How is that – how do you – _how?!_ " she shouted, grabbing his shoulders and giving him a shake.

"They're Shadow Clones," Naruto bragged, pleased with himself. "They're the older sibling to the illusionary Jutsu the Bunshin. They're solid, made of my Chakra – my life energy," he explained cheerfully, "They're only good for one hit though, pretty delicate, so they're not that useful to others but when you're as big of a badass as me then it doesn't matter!" he declared self-importantly, buffing his nails on his chest with a haughty grin.

"They die with one hit?" Arsais asked curiously, climbing to his feet and poking the closest one.

"Yeah. Though we can dispel ourselves, or Boss can will us to vanish if he wants," the clone responded, waving away his hand. "He can experience everything that we do, anything we learn he learns. He gets our memories when we pop," he explained gesturing between them.

"We're best for recon work, or manual labour when you need more hands than one. Also, anything Boss has on him when he makes us is cloned too. So it's great for spamming weapons at the enemy too!" the second clone explained with a wide grin as he rummaged for an old shuriken from his pocket, spinning it expertly in one finger before turning and flicking it _hard_ into one of the wooden poles not too far away. The pole shuddered with the force of the impact, and everyone could see that the shuriken had clearly embedded itself so hard into it that it had punched through to the otherside and then gotten stuck.

The clone then dispelled and the shuriken puffed into smoke along with him – leaving a hole through the wood.

The Hunters all turned to stare at the very smug Naruto with varying degrees of emotion before looks were exchanged between them. This kid... given the right training... could be an absolute _beast_ of a Hunter. The _**ULTIMATE**_ Hunter.

"Hey, Naruto..." Autumn began slowly.

"How do you feel about bugs?" Claire cut in, appearing in front of him, her eyes shining as she shoved her Kinsect under his nose.

 _ **000**_

Word quickly began to spread about a kid with super-powers unlike anything anyone had ever seen, or heard of before. Naruto became quite the little circus attraction just outside the Hunting Hall, showing off his Kage Bunshin to everyone – at least until he got the idea to show off all his _other_ Ninjutsu. Like Henge, turning into a copy of Autumn, complete with voice; Wall Walking, he scaled the side of the Hunting Hall before doing the same with his hands; he complained that he couldn't show them Water Walking because the harbour was a bit too choppy right now, and he hadn't been able to finish learning it properly before ending up here; Kawarimi, though he ended up replacing himself with a barrel from the _other_ side of Val Habar, which was about as close as he could make the technique drop him given his ridiculous Chakra levels and poor control; and finally, just for giggles, he even showed them Oiroke no Jutsu. He had expected to get the shit kicked out of him, but most of the Hunters, especially the females, burst out laughing and hooted excitedly. The innuendo and questions and teasing that followed made him mentally vow to pack that Jutsu away as his face positively _burned_ crimson in embarrassment.

But out of all the Jutsus, it wasn't the Kage Bunshin he first showed off that caused the biggest stir of interest. It was the Kawarimi.

Hunters began to mutter curiously about the technique, questions about how far away you could swap and what you could swap with were being passed around. Naruto tried to explain as best he could, but he had been forbidden from pursuing the Kawarimi further when he accidentally managed to swap himself out of the village walls the first time he got the Jutsu down. After that point, they gave the technique a tick in his file and suggested that he leave that Jutsu alone until his Chakra control was better – or he'd end up somewhere in Earth, or Lightning Country. You could swap with any object you liked, it was easier with things your size, the bigger or smaller they were the harder it was, and the further away it was the more energy it took. It was also advisable that you not swap with living objects unless you were _really_ good at the technique, you could cause them severe internal damage if you don't do it right. Hence why he'd thought Kakashi had just henged himself into one of his clones during the bell test as the Chakra construct only dispelled after getting punched, he reasoned that Kawarimi-ing with a clone would cause it to pop given how delicate they were.

He was trying to show Autumn, Claire, and Dalagonash how to access their Chakra when Nile showed up, the little Wyvernian Guild Master at his side.

"Naruto, can we steal you away for a second?" Nile called, trying to look friendly, but having a very serious edge to his features that immediately made the former Genin nervous as he left his new friends. "The Guild Master wants to talk to you for a bit. We're just going to head out of Val Habar a little ways so we've got some privacy and space. Nothing's going to you, I promise," he swore, patting the youngster on the shoulder before steering him towards the planes that if Naruto recalled those maps correctly, was in the direction of the Ancestral Steppes where he was first found. Alarm bells started ringing in his head and Naruto tensed up, fingers going to his pockets where he still had that tiny handful of shuriken hidden – he was pretty sure that with his clones he could provide enough of a distraction to these two in order to escape if things went south.

"What's going on, 'ttebayo?" he asked warily as the Guild Master found himself a good rock and got settled. They had found a large open space, sun-warmed red rocks dotted here and there, and a carpet of dried golden grass over uneven rolling terrain, the sound of a river bubbling and gurgling tickling the edges of his ears not too far away. It was a nice spot, it would have been one of the more popular training grounds in Konoha simply for its looks – though it would be restricted to Genin simply out of a desire not to cause it severe damage.

"Well," Nile began, looking down at the smaller creature beside him.

"Word's reached me about yer interestin' powers. Let's have a gander then, show me what cha got," he declared, waving his cigar in Naruto's general direction.

His Jutsus? They just wanted to see them? Then why take him out here? He pulled a face, eyeing the two of them warily, but neither made a move towards him. The Guild Master puffed peaceably on his pipe, watching him with patient, shrewd eyes. Nile had taken a seat on a slightly lower rock next to him and was glancing skyward every now and again, constantly on alert but not paying him anything more than cursory attention. Ah. Guard duty. Nile was keeping an eye out for attackers while the Guild Master was observing him. Okay, that seemed a lot more reasonable than what he feared beforehand.

So, Naruto showed them.

Wary at first, still keeping half an eye on the other two to gage their moods and reactions – he figured he could out-run them if push came to shove. But it also occurred to him that this was his opportunity to impress them, show how awesome and capable he was – enough for early admittance to the Hunter's Guild maybe?

So he showed them, he really gave it his all.

All of his Ninjutsu, basic techniques starting from the Academy Graduation Three, and then the supplementary Jutsus like Nawanuke (Rope-escape), Kakuremino (invisibility cloak), he didn't know the name of Sasuke's wire tricks but with Nile's help he was able to replicate some of them with a weird combination of ivy and spider's web braided together. He used an old Quest paper to show them how to turn even something as seemingly harmless as paper into a replacement shuriken just as sharp and hard as the metal variants. He showed them Kage Bunshin, Wall Walking, Water Walking, the Shunshin which he had been playing with for years but never managed to master or perfect, but they wouldn't be able to tell that it was incomplete, just that he was too fast to see with the naked eye.

He showed them how fast he could run, how far and high he could jump, how good his aim with shuriken was. His Taijutsu, how he could seemingly melt into the surroundings as if he had never been there, it was easier with the golden coloured grass, just as it had been easy to paint the orange-red face of the Hokage monument at dawn in his bright orange jumpsuit. And then he showed them what he knew of tracking, of hiding, and moving fast without leaving scent, sound, or trace in the surroundings. He showed them just what he was capable of, as a threat and a promise. That he could hurt them, but he could also help them. He just wanted a chance.

He could see the impressed awe on Nile's face, how he watched with the look of someone getting a great many ideas for the future, in the way he forgot to keep an eye on their surroundings and instead focused intensely on Naruto himself. The Guild Master was struggling to maintain his neutral face. He was impressed, disturbed, and considering, all at once as he puffed slowly on his pipe, watching as Naruto skidded to a stop in front of him, not even breathing hard as he bounced in place, waiting for their prognosis.

"And you say there are _no_ monsters in your parts?" the Guild Master asked warily as Naruto grinned at them from ear to ear.

"Nope. Well, not _really_ I don't think," Naruto admitted, scratching the back of his head. "There's a Summoning Technique, you sign a contract with an animal clan and they give you permission to call on them in battle. They're a lot like Palicos but they only come when they're called, and they can't stick around if they get injured too badly. They can be as huge as buildings, the stronger ones. Uhm, there's Ninken, I mean, Ninja Animals. They're specifically trained to join us in fights, the Inuzuka clan back home worked with dogs a lot, and I remember the Uchihas having this thing with cats from History class. Um, I guess some of the stuff in the Forest of Death could be considered pretty monstrous but we use that for Chuunin Promotion exams, so they can't be that bad," he listed, scratching the back of his head as he counted off his fingers. "I suppose the Bijuu count as monsters, since no one can really _fight_ them, just slow 'em down, or imprison them."

"What, may I ask, is a Bijuu?" Nile asked, tilting his head curiously.

Naruto grimaced, a whole different kettle of fish is what.

"Nightmares," he muttered before Henging himself into a copy of the Kyuubi. About the size of a horse, with all nine tails flashing behind him, and then he dropped it, puffing back into his real form and sat back on his ass. "Imagine that, but bigger than Val Habar, angrier, and able to level mountains with a flick of its tail. That was Kyuubi, the ninth Bijuu. He attacked my village back when I was born, nearly levelled it. Our Hokage, the leader of the village, the Fourth, took him down and imprisoned him, but it killed him in the process. There's nine others like him, but they all have different powers. I know Kyuubi has fire and raw power. And I know that there's a big two tailed cat that can use fire, and supposedly there was a huge golden monkey that could throw lava around in the last big war. I know that Suna have one that uses sand, but I don't know where he stands in strength. They're closer to natural disasters than to monsters," he explained dully, unable to really tell them that _he_ was one of those prisons, that he held the very same Kyuubi that he showed them. They didn't need to know. And if he hadn't told Sakura-chan... there was no need to tell them either.

The Guild Master sighed before setting his pipe down, "Well now, young'in. From all'a what you jes' told me. I can presume you ain't got no monsters worth a Kelbi Nut. An' all'a yer fancy Ninja powers, were made ta' fight other Ninjas and regular folk, right?" he summarized.

It took a moment for Naruto to translate what was said, but experience with Tazuna helped him along and he nodded eagerly, "Yup. Though Konoha doesn't do that kind of stuff to civilians, regular people! We're the good guys!" he exclaimed with a firm nod. Konoha weren't like those bastards from Kiri or Kumo or Iwa who controlled and attacked their civilian populations with iron fists. They were the good guys.

"First up," the Guild Master declared, lifting a clawed finger under Naruto's nose, "You ain't ta use that on folk," he declared sternly.

Naruto stalled to a halt and blinked. Not to use that on – wha?

"Second, while I'm sure ya'd make one _hell_ of a Hunter, ya ain't gunna be joinin' the Guild till yer twenty, same as everyone else. Them's the rules. So no goin' inta the Huntin' Grounds, no matter what, get me?" the Guild Master continued ruthlessly, amber-red eyes boring into Naruto's startled blue severely. He was not joking around. "If'in' yer Mentor here takes ya out, then that's fine. Yer under his protection and jurisdiction. But not without him. Lotta laws need ta be observed, tha eco-system is a delicate one, and we gotta keep track o' it. No unauthorised Huntin' and wandering through the grounds. Stirs things up, interferes with legit hunts. There's a reason fer what we do. Until ya learn it, obey it, and respect it, ya stay away from it."

Naruto bridled, but... it did make sense. He nodded muleishly.

"An' finally... Think you could teach some'a our boys ta do that Ninjutsu stuff'a yers?" the Guild Master finally asked, squinting curiously at him. "That Replacement Technique would save a lotta lives."

A pause. Then –

"... They gotta call me Sensei if I'm gunna teach 'em anything, 'ttebayo," Naruto said, a flush climbing up his cheeks at the thought of someone coming to _him_ for instruction, respecting and actually _listening_ to what he had to say.

The Guild Master laughed, "I'mma suuuuure we can arrange that!"

 _ **000**_

 **And chapter finished! And yeah, I know Konoha have some pretty strict laws on teaching outsiders their techniques but hey, Naruto's an outsider too, and he's never really cared about stuff like people being from different countries. Nor has he ever been discreet when it comes to showing off.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Jaegar**

 _ **000**_

 **CHAPTER FIVE**

"Th-this is all for _me_?!" Naruto yelled in confused excitement as he stared down at the array of weaponry laid out on a strip of fabric in front of their Caravan, practically vibrating. The Guild Marm beamed smugly, buffing her nails proudly; she had pestered all the High Rank Hunters meandering through for their basic Rank Ones, most of them had already sold their first sets, but she struck pay dirt with an OCD Long Sworder who had kept hold of everything – even forging the ones he didn't already have. Apparently he was a collector, a hunter who insisted on having every weapon, armour, and decoration for every eventuality. He was quite happy to part with the Rank Ones for free, knowing they would be put to good use – he could make more easily enough, it wasn't like they were expensive.

"Yup, a charitable donation to the next generation of hunters!" she proclaimed as Naruto made a beeline for the Iron Great Sword, drooling in boyish awe at the oversized kitchen knife as Nile called it. Eager little hands reached down to grab the hilt and haul it up. She wished him luck, even she had difficulty lifting Great Swords on occasion, they were heavy. He grunted, hauling the massive blade up –

And was promptly squashed under it as he overbalanced and fell backwards.

Nile and Rayleigh roared with laughter as the blond's little arms and legs flailed under the heavy blade, spitting and cursing, a torrent of foul swearing and yells not quite drowning out the mirth of the two older men – and the hilarity of near-by watching Hunters. Ann herself had to stifle her own giggles before hauling the sword off him.

"Let's start a little smaller, shall we? We can always come back to the Great Sword later," she suggested as she set it aside and carefully helped Naruto back to his feet. The ' _when you can actually lift it_ ' going unsaid but definitely understood if the mulish glint of stubborn determination was a clue.

Nile gently clasped her shoulder, smiling warmly, "I'll take it from here, Ann," he said, still a little pink cheeked from laughter as she smiled and stepped aside. He reached down and collected a round metal shield, and a hand and a half single edge curved sword. "This here is the bread and butter of the Hunter world. Sword and Shield, this little fellow will teach you the basics for most of the weapon types, and isn't heavy enough to slow you down during training. You'll learn your monster anatomy, where best to strike, when best to strike, and how to block with this. And once you have it mastered, you'll at least be able to work off the basic idea for weapons like that Great Sword you were so enamoured with earlier, Lances, Dual Blades, Gun Lances, and if your brain can wrap around the angles and extra reach, the Long Sword," he explained sliding the shield onto one meaty forearm, and demonstrating several cutting and stabbing motions with the knife, the air whistling around the razor sharp edge as it cut through the air. Sliding them off, Nile handed them over and taught him how to properly strap them on, both sheathed and unsheathed.

"When you've got the Hunting Knife mastered, we'll look into the other weaponry. But I'm afraid that until you're stronger the Great Sword, and other similar heavy weaponry like Gun Lances, Heavy Bowguns, and Hammers will have to wait. They're all very physically demanding weapons, and in your current state, the muscle damage from trying to wield them could very well cripple your career before you even get it started," Nile apologised, slapping one of his biceps pointedly – it was about the size of Naruto's head, tanned, and patterned with faint scars.

Naruto nodded, slightly disappointed. He was surprised that he had paid attention to the whole lecture to be honest, then again, probably not. This was weapons, and training, not boring history or maths. He had also learned, quite embarrassingly so, that he wasn't ready to handle a Great Sword. Plus... Nile hadn't even attempted to deny him, not even said it was impossible, or that Naruto wasn't good enough to use it. Just that they would come back to it when he was physically stronger and able to handle the weight. Naruto could deal with that. Absently in the back of his head, he wondered just how far he would have been able to go in the Academy, or as a Genin if he'd had someone like Nile teaching him Ninja techniques. Probably a lot further than he currently was.

"Right, let's get started!" Nile decalred cheerfully, picking up the heavy war hammer with a grin. "The most important thing for a Hunter to learn is when to block, and when to dodge. Start running!"

 _ **0000**_

Naruto took it back, he would have _died_ if Nile had been teaching at the Academy!

So would everyone else!

If Naruto knew the word, he would have called the Lancer 'relentless'. The genin had Jinchuuriki stamina for Kami-sama sake, it took a _lot_ to tire him out! Nile was still fresh as a daisy even after six hours of swinging an iron hammer heavier than Naruto was, and casually punting the Genin up and down the sand just outside the caravan city. By comparison, the blond was dirty, sweaty, bruised, and bone tired. He ached in ways he hadn't known the human body could, and he was breathing hard enough that it felt like he'd hurt himself.

But he still lifted his dented little shield on his numb arms as Nile approached him with that goddamn hammer again. The whole point of the training was for Naruto to learn to gage which blows he could block, and which ones he should dodge.

No way Sasuke would have been able to keep up with the gruelling pace. Not even Iruka-sensei would have been able to manage it if Naruto was this worn out. Kakashi-sensei, _maaaaybe_ could handle it... Naruto had never really seen him actually _in_ a prolonged fight, his Sharingan ended it fairly quickly by either winning him the fight, or dropping him on his ass (why the hell did he even keep it if it was such a liability? He was supposedly a Jounin at 13, surely he didn't need the eye?). Either way, while Naruto definitely had more speed than Nile, he still didn't have the strength to fight him, and while his stamina was fairly beastly and without limit by comparison to other Ninjas, Nile's seemingly had no end! Oh sure, he paused every now and again, but that was only to give Naruto time to get back to his feet after he attempted to block a hammer blow and went flying.

By the end of their training session, Naruto was dirty, bruised, exhausted, he had sand in places that had never been touched, and very much of the opinion that he hated shields. Why the hell would he try to block something if he could dodge it?

"Because sometimes you can't dodge," Nile told him solemnly as he reached down to help Naruto to his feet, "sometimes, there's something important behind you and you cannot, CANNOT, take a step away from where you are, because it means that danger is that one step closer to that important something."

Naruto stared, his mind flashing to that idealised image of a dream in his head, the Fourth Hokage stood upon a giant toad, valiantly facing down the Kyuubi, refusing to take even one step back from the fearsome sight before him because... Because Konoha was behind him.

He nodded solemnly, "I understand," he agreed seriously, remembering the fight on the bridge, the desperation to deal with Gatou, Zabuza, and Haku because Wave and Inari were behind him, he stood between them and _would not_ stand aside. He understood. And he thinks now, that must be why Nile chose to be a Lancer, they had the biggest shields to protect their precious people behind it.

The Ace Lancer must have seen something of what Naruto was thinking in his eyes and nodded in approval, "Let's call it a night, have a bath, get some grub. You've got an early start tomorrow with your first Chakra Lesson," he pointed out with a smile as he swung the hammer up into the magnetic harness between his shoulders, the thick leather straps pressing down as they took the weapon's beastly weight.

Naruto was almost immediately bouncing in place with excitement. He had enjoyed teaching Konohamaru the Oiroke no Jutsu, it had been great fun, and he got to boss someone around for once without being glared at with those cold eyes, or insulted. Now they were giving him a whole class of Hunters, whom thus far were all pretty awesome people in his opinion, and he was practically vibrating with excitement.

He gleefully told Nile what he had planned, first he had to help them find their Chakra. Back home that involved a lot of meditation and sparring, but he'd never managed to find his Chakra that way. Instead, Ji- the Hokage had given him a taste of Chakra by poking him with his own until Naruto recognised the sensation and was able to follow it throughout his body. That was how he'd introduce the others, because it was faster and they really had no idea what they were looking for, and Naruto didn't have the words to explain it properly. After that, he'd start them on focusing their Chakra, the leaf sticking exercise, followed by Henge, then Bunshin, then Kawarimi - get them used to stretching their Chakra out further and further before going for the replacement technique as he wasn't sure about how to treat Chakra exhaustion.

"I just hope they can. I mean, some people can't use it no matter what, and I've never heard of anyone starting to learn after their teens. What if they can't do it?" he wondered nervously, not particularly wanting people to get angry with him for promising to teach them something they just couldn't do.

Nile shrugged and ran a hand through Naruto's hair, "Then they can't do it, and that's that." He chuckled as he casually hoisted the (currently) red headed boy up by the scruff of his neck and out of the way of a gargwa driven cart thundering past them. "I don't know what kind of culture you came from, Naruto, but here in these parts, folk understand that there are just some things that can't be helped. Best you can do is just get on with what you can. If they can't learn Chakra techniques, then that's that. Certainly there will be some disappointment, you will likely have multiple attempts from individuals attempting to learn, Low rank hunters, High rank hunters, perhaps even G-rank hunters; we do get a few of them passing through occasionally. And if age _is_ a true factor, then I'm sure we can plumb a few trainees to learn. And if that is _still_ an impossibility, then there will be no more on the matter. Though, if you _do_ become a hunter, you will likely be a very highly sought after teammate, and be offered a multitude of opportunities that others may not be given quite so quickly."

Naruto grimaced, a few months ago, back when he'd first made Genin, he would have been ecstatic to be just _handed_ something because someone recognised his awesomeness, but now... the ninja that had buried Haku, had faced death in the Chuunin exams, watched cousins fight to kill, had nearly been _murdered_ on the orders of someone he respected above all overs – he knew that Jiji was just trying to do his best for the village, he was the _Hokage,_ that was what they had to do! But – but... no. It just hurt. And something in the back of his head, buried deep, snapped and snarled and raged about the unfairness of it all. It was muffled and smothered by years of lectures at the Academy, of sass, and snark, and quips, and irreverence, secret tests, and 'underneath the underneath', _they were ninjas, life wasn't_ _meant_ _to be fair!_

"Blegh!" he spat, "I'll earn it on my own merits, 'ttebayo!" he decided.

There were no shortcuts to becoming Hokage. There were no shortcuts to being a badass either. You either came by it honestly, or you were no badass at all. Just a liar, a cheat, and a thief.

"That's the spirit!" Nile praised as they stopped by the caravan, the lancer setting the young Genin down so they could collect a few wash buckets and cloths. "You going to join us, Ann?" Nile asked as he rummaged some soap from his box.

The red head smiled, "Perhaps another time. I have a whole bunch of reports and notes to be passed onto the Guild," she explained with an apologetic sigh.

Nile chuckled and took a brief moment to plant a kiss on her cheek, "I'll hold you to that, love," he told her fondly before snatching a pair of towels up from the hooks beside the door. "Come on, Naruto, before they run out of hot water," he called before laughing and scruffing a hand through the genin's hair, "Maybe we can wash some of that paintberry from your hair. How on earth you got it such a shade of red, I'll never know. Paintberry's supposed to be _pink_!"

Naruto shoved his hand away with a grunt of annoyance, "I mixed it with madder root! Had to use more than I wanted to, but it worked," he explained as Nile lead him through the winding tents and caravans to the grassy outskirts on the otherside of the town to the hunting grounds, close to the harbour.

It was as they cleared the last row of tents that Naruto's jaw _dropped_.

When Nile said 'take a bath', Naruto had reasonably assumed they were either going to a bath-house, a hot-spring, or a river to get cleaned up. Instead, they walked into a _field_ of _nudity_. A huge metal boiler set over a constantly maintained fire, a line of men and women and children with buckets and washing supplies lined up to collect some steaming hot liquid, and filling the grassy field, were men, women, families, children, and hunters, naked as the day they were born getting washed. Naruto's eyes were practically bugging out of his skull as a group of naked seven year olds raced past shrieking and laughing as they threw soap-suds at one another, a beautiful woman with bountiful _jiggling_ curves swanned past, her tanned skin soapy and glistening, dark hair piled atop of her head in damp strands that stuck to her skin as she collected a bucket of water from an equally naked young man juggling three.

He could see a pair of old men laughing as they washed between their toes with cloths and soapy water, jabbing at one another's bony joints and odd lumps and bumps and skin discolourations while the granddaughter of one of them knelt to one side trying to get her squirming toddler to stop eating soap and stay in the bucket of water. A group of pregnant women, proudly bare, their swollen stomachs ooh'd and ahh'd over, compared, stroked, and touched. Disbelieving blue eyes watched as the woman with the biggest stomach laughed, her hugely pouting ebony tummy _moving_ with the shifting of her unborn child.

"Ahh! There y'are!" he heard Rayleigh shout, dragging his attention away from the pregnant women who were now all clustering around the dark skinned lady and her squirmy belly. He goggled and immediately looked away because, by the Kami, Rayleigh was also naked and he had a _third leg_ and no shame what so ever about it! Standing with arms folded and legs splayed open.

Way to make a kid uncomfortable, he couldn't help but think in distressed horror.

Still, no one seemed to be finding anything at all odd about the nudity. Naruto was, in fact, the only one red faced and avoiding eye contact. No one was ogling the pretty girls, or grimacing in disgust at the ugly old men, the mothers weren't trying to cover their childrens' eyes, and the fathers weren't threatening death and dismemberment on any of the men around their daughters. So... he assumed that it was just a cultural difference?

"Are you alright, Naruto?" Nile asked as he collected a second bucket of water for him.

Naruto nodded a little awkwardly, "Y-yeah. Just... not used to so much skin, 'ttebayo," he admitted sheepishly accepting his bucket.

"Is communal bathing not done in your Fire Country?" Rayleigh asked as he lead them to a small open space where Mamoru was scrubbing up himself.

The paintberry red haired boy set his bucket down and began to strip, "It is. But definitely not unisex, or quite as openly. We've got bath-houses, they split by gender but kids are allowed to stick with their parents until puberty. Mainly it's because people are total perverts back home," he complained with a grimace. He had _often_ played on that perversion to get what he wanted out of idiots who thought more with their bits instead of their brains, but it also backfired on him as well sometimes. Not often though. Oiroke was usually enough to render any red-blooded man into a bloody pile on the floor. Apparently it would do absolutely shit for a hunter though. He could kind of see why now. When nudity was just another accepted part of life, what did it matter if he slapped on a naked henge? It was nothing any of them hadn't seen before.

Once he got used to it, or rather, stopped freaking out over it or paying attention to it, scrubbing up was easy and simple. There was a real air of community in the little field, they ended up being joined by a few hunters that Nile and Rayleigh knew, Naruto spotted Autumn and her friend Claire naked and washing one another's backs. He managed to wash the majority of the red dye in his hair out, apparently paintberry wasn't a permanently staining pigment which was why they only used it in monster tracking. Problem was it would wear off after a while as the monster ran through underbrush, and through water, or sand. His hair was now only a faintly gingery coloured blond once again.

"Do you need anything for tomorrow?" Mamoru asked kindly as he tipped their dirty water out onto the grass.

Naruto shook his head, "No. Chakra is all inside, and for the first few lessons I'll just be poking them with mine until they can sense their own and begin to try moving and controlling it inside themselves." He got the feeling that until they actually figured out how to control it, the leaf sticking exercise would be pretty pointless.

"Well, good luck. We'll be rootin' fer ya, brat," Rayleigh declared with a gusty laugh as he bent over to collect his bucket.

Naruto grimaced and looked away.

That was far more of a man than he ever wanted to see.

 _ **000**_

Autumn, Arsais, Claire, Dalagonash, and several other hunters were waiting for him when he arrived after a silted breakfast, they were all clustered outside the Hunting Hall with the Guild Master, and Penny lurking at the back of the group trying not to be noticed. So, these were going to be his students?

Naruto swallowed nervously.

Nothing for it, he was just going to have to show these hunters just how _awesome_ he really was!

Slapping his cheeks, once, twice, and a third time just to make sure, he leaped atop the nearest bundle of boxes, fists planted upon his hips, "Uzumaki Naruto, super awesome Ninja, and future Hokage, you all better be ready to learn, 'cause I'm not stopping 'till you're just as awesome as I am, 'ttebayo!" he roared over at the gathered people.

Cheers, laughter, calls of 'nice to meet you', and 'weren't you a red head yesterday' went up from the assorted hunters below, mixing with a few heckling jeers and shouts to get down before he hurt himself. Naruto nodded, humming in smug gratification as he ignored them, that went a hundred times better than it would have done in Konoha. He jumped off the boxes, landing lightly next to the Guild Master who was shaking his head a little.

"Yeh sure know how to make an entrance, I'll give yeh that," the jolly wyverian said, he puffed on his pipe and eyed the genin from under his hat, "Yeh ready fer this, supersprout? They're a rowdy lot," he warned him with a look of deep affection as he glanced over to the group of hunters now horsing around in front of them.

Naruto looked over at them, and refused to be intimidated. "I'll manage, 'ttebayo. Can't be any worse than an A-rank Missing nin, or a hundred and sixty foot snake," he added, very carefully not thinking about the S-rank Missing nin that summoned said snake. He doubted there was anything in this world that could be worse than Orochimaru, he was so many different kinds of _creepy_.

"Well, hop to then. Yer makin' the place look untidy," the Guild Master scolded with a playful grin.

Naruto stuck his tongue out at him before placing his fingers in his mouth _just_ so (he was so bad at this), and blowing as hard as he could. It took a little bit, but eventually a shrill _loud_ whistle split the air and got the gathered Hunters' attention. He jumped back onto his boxes, one or two of the hunters making surprised and shocked noises, "Alright everyone! We're going to be moving just outside Val Habar where we'll begin, okay? Follow me!" he called before launching himself off the box and halfway down the street, much to the noisy astonishment of the hunters behind him.

Once they'd found a suitable location on the outskirts, Naruto got them all to sit down so he could be seen and heard.

"Right," he began, rubbing the back of his head, "I'll be honest here, I wasn't the best student when I was learning this stuff. I know a few shortcuts for teaching you though. Back home, learning to harness your Chakra took a long time, lots of meditation, lots of fighting. I never really got the hang of it that way, I have way too much chakra to feel any kind of difference between meditation and combat.

"Chakra is a mix of energy, brain and body," he began to explain, two Kage Bunshin puffing into life beside him, one henged his clothes into blue, the other into red. "We'll call your brain energy heaven," the blue clone waved and bowed, "and your body energy earth." The red clone pumped his fists and jumped up and down a bit with a wide grin. A few hunters laughed, but for the most part they were listening far more attentively than Naruto could have hoped for. Maybe he was better at this than he thought?

"When we were training, we learned to meditate, so we could feel our heaven chakra better," blue dropped to the ground and took a cross legged position to demonstrate, "and when we were sparring against one another, we were supposed to be able to feel our earth chakra," red began to shadow box on his otherside. "By going immediately from one to another, we were supposed to feel and identify the differences in the energy within our bodies. Like I said, this didn't work for me. And given how none of you had ever even heard of Chakra before I showed up, have probably never _felt_ Chakra in any kind of form, you probably wouldn't be able to feel the differences _either_. Not without more years than I'm sure you're willing to give to learning."

A few scattered susurrations of agreement amongst his students could be heard.

Naruto nodded and his two clones moved to one side, "The thing you've got to remember about chakra is that, even though it's two different kinds of energy, they're both one in the same. It's your energy. Your life power. Just two parts of a whole that you have to combine to use. There's a pretty well known poem that can explain it a bit better:

"' _If you lack heaven, seek wisdom, gain knowledge, and prepare yourself for missions.  
If you lack earth, run through the fields, seek advantages, and train hard.  
If you possess both heaven and earth, you can succeed even the most dangerous of missions.  
These are the rules that will guide a person's harmony._'

"If you're dumb, learn more, and make sure you're prepared. If you're weak, train harder and get stronger, if you're both smart and strong, you'll do fine. Remember to keep your life in harmony." The two coloured clones joined hands in demonstration, and then henged themselves into one extra tall adult Naruto wearing purple clothes. He flashed them a peace sign and flexed his muscles, prompting laughter and wolfwhistles.

His butchered explanation given, Naruto had them all spread out across the field, and summoned a clone for everyone there. Each of the hunters would begin to meditate while a clone would gently introduce chakra to their systems in the same way the Sandaime had done for him – just a little more thoroughly and carefully. Jiji had taken to poking him in the side at Ichiraku while they were eating dinner, that was how Naruto learned he was actually quite ticklish, and the difference between the two different chakra types.

For the next few hours Naruto drifted through the gathered hunters, giving them advice on what to look for, what chakra felt like. To him it was light, airy, it could sometimes feel like a hot wind, or an icy wet one. The hot one he likened to his earth chakra, and the colder one to his heaven chakra. The two combined felt like a balmy summer day. It would feel different to other people, Sakura's chakra felt like green things that grew and moist soil, while Sasuke's sometimes felt like anything between the air after a storm and the way a campfire smelt.

By the end of the session, Naruto was getting more and more nervous as no one seemed to make any progress. They could _definitely_ feel the clones poking them with chakra now where as before it was just the poking they seemed to be aware of, now they were getting a feel for the energy being introduced to their systems. But that just wasn't enough of a sign of progress in Naruto's opinion, and he was getting concerned that, even though Nile assured him no one would be upset, that they would be angry with him for it.

"I did it!" Penny's voice suddenly shrieked from the far side of the field.

The little girl's dark hair was in sweaty disarray, and there were little bruises on her arms where the clone had been nervously poking her with increasing amounts of chakra at her order, but she was on her feet jumping around ecstatically.

Naruto rushed over, and the girl whirled on him in wide-eyed excitement. "I did it! I did it, Naruto! I can separate them all by myself!" she gushed breathlessly before holding her arms out and screwing her face up. A moment later, faint wisps of chakra could be seen distorting the air in front of her palms, one in pale shades of blue, the other in vague shades of yellow. They flickered out and Penny gasped for air, panting hard with sweat dribbling from her forehead as she leaned over, hands pressed against her knees.

"Well done, Penny-chan!" Naruto cheered, "Did you all see that?!" he bellowed over at the other hunters, "Back to work! You _can_ do it!" he exclaimed, bouncing around the exhausted little girl. "Penny, think you feel up to helping a few people out? You're real smart and can probably explain it better than me," he admitted.

She gulped another massive lungful of air and nodded, "S-sure," she panted before coughing a little. "Just, give me a second," she wheezed.

His clone suddenly reappeared, having vanished without his notice, with a little waterskin in hand that he gave to the girl. Greedily she guzzled as much of it as she could, taking a long gusty breath afterwards.

"Thanks, whew, I needed that! Yeah, I'll help out!" she declared much more strongly even as she dabbed sweat from her chin with a wrist, positively beaming at him.

With Penny's help, and the increased moral amongst the hunters, by the time they called it quits for the day, four more hunters had managed to identify and move their chakra. Naruto noticed how they were mainly the youngest of the gathered hunters, with only a single exception in an exceptionally high-ranked Dual Blade wielder whose shifting chakra turned red and purple around him. A number of the hunters were giving him funny looks for it though.

The older man rolled his shoulders and huffed a mildly amused and somewhat wry laugh, "I wondered why that earth catra felt so familiar," he said as Naruto bounded over and skidded to a stop in front of him, "Demon Dance, who knew..." he mused lazily as he leaned back on his hands and stretched his legs out, seemingly heedless to the curling aura of violent red chakra that licked up his body.

"Demon _what?_ " Naruto asked, his throat tightening almost painfully at the terminology. They couldn't know about Kyuubi, they _couldn't_.

The old guy threw him a wry smirk, "Demon Dance, it's a Dual Blade technique. A burst of energy that saps your stamina but turns your blades into a frenzied dance of death. Basically, ' _set hunter to blend_ ' as someone told me years ago. I wondered why your earth catra ("Chakra," Naruto found himself correcting almost absently, hanging on the old man's every word) felt so familiar. I focused on it exclusively and when I tried to copy the feeling, boom, instant Demon Dance mode."

"Really?" one of the near-by female hunters asked before she settled back and squeezed her eyes shut, a moment later, her body briefly surged with pale blue energy that winked out just as quickly. Her breath wooshed out all at once and she flopped backwards on the grass with a groan. "Goddamn it takes it out of you!" she gasped, "That heaven chakra is just like channelling a Hunting Horn buff but without the horn to help!" she called.

"Would it work with a Great Sword charge?" another voice pondered from else where.

"What about Long Sword's Spirit Combo?" another asked.

Suddenly the field was rife with speculation that Naruto was considerably ill-equipped to handle, Penny now at his side with wide eyes. The old hunter observed the hubbub with a sigh, "Well, it's something to consider," he mused as he levered himself to his feet. "This might be something for the Wycademy to look into, maybe even talk to his Imminence or the egg-heads up at the Observation Centre," he mused as he stretched and carefully twisted until a series of juicy pops and cracks could be heard coming from his back. He sighed in relief.

Naruto stared up at him, still confused, "Does this mean it really is possible for people to use Chakra like me? Or are they too set in their ways to relearn?" he asked curiously.

The old hunter shrugged a shoulder, "Couldn't tell you for certain. I'll talk to the Guild Master, if you're not opposed to it he'll probably contact the Wycademy to do some research into it," he shrugged again before smirking at him, "Thanks for the lesson, Naruto-sensei, it was fun," he said cheerfully, sending the genin into full on red lantern coloured blushing.

"Yeah! It was super fun!" Penny agreed brightly, making him blush even harder.

 _ **000**_

 **Chapter finished. Sorry it's taken me upwards of a year to do it. The muses are fickle and capricious things. You need more than a Shock Trap and several tranq bombs to catch 'em.**

 **I will be explaining my thought processes regarding Chakra, and Hunting techniques later in the story, but sufficed to say,** **yes** **hunters can use Chakra. Can they use it the same way as Naruto does? Yes and no. Some can, some can't. I will explain later. 8)**

 _ **000**_

MONSTER CORNER

 **Supersprout:** Item usually found within the Misty Peaks, it is a type of bamboo sprout that is considered a delicacy in food. Quite short and stocky.

 **Rank One weapons:** Iron Sword (GS), Iron Katana (LS), Matched Slicers (DB), Hunter's Knife (SnS), War Hammer, Elite Blade (CB), Bone Axe (SA), Bone Staff (IG), Iron Lance, Hunting Horn, Iron Gunlance, Cross Bowgun (LBG), Bone Shooter (HBG), Hunter's Bow 1 (Bow).

 **Gargwa:** A flightless docile bird wyvern, it is big and has fluffy down feathers in shades of cream, orange, and red, with blue and green patterns on its vestigial small wings. It has a duck's bill and a yellow crest. These herbivorous birds are used as livestock the world over, but are known to attack hunters in the wild on occasion. They will lay eggs or defecate when startled from behind before running off. If done carefully enough, they will sometimes lay a golden egg worth 500zenny upon delivery to the guild box.


	6. Chapter 6

...

 **Jaeger**

 _ **000**_

 **CHAPTER SIX**

The next few days all continued along the same lines, in the morning he would be woken up by Minty, and get breakfast with Nile and Ann at Penny's mum's food stall, then Nile would take him out training on the outskirts until lunch time, after a quick meal, Naruto would then begin his Chakra lessons with the other hunters until dinner. After that he'd have the evening to himself, but usually end up either hanging around the Hunting Hall listening to stories from the various hunters, or having more ready and writing lessons with Ann. Then it would be bed, and begin again tomorrow.

One that was broken on the fifth day by the appearance of a messenger palico in blue bearing a missive for Nile from Dundorma.

His Eminence, the head of the Hunters' Guild, wanted to meet Naruto.

Naruto didn't get what the big deal was, but everyone in the 'Capitol C' (Rayleigh should never be allowed to name things ever) was freaking out over it, except for Mamoru. But Naruto didn't think he would freak out over anything less than a dragon landing on his forge. Ann had gone running to a friend of hers, and Naruto had to put up with being stood on a stool and measured like a piece of meat while Ann hovered nearby and asked about how long it would take her friend to make something suitable for him, Nile wouldn't need anything as he had his armour, but Naruto himself had nothing but the clothes on his back and his basic training equipment.

"I can get it done by tomorrow morning," the lady promised as she got to her feet, little wax tablet in a tight grip as she patted Naruto's shoulder, "What's your favourite colour?" she asked.

Naruto blinked, no one had actually _asked_ him that before, "Orange, but darker than this, like a sunset," he explained feeling oddly embarrassed. He would have liked his jumpsuit to be a darker shade of orange, closer to the colour of tigers, or embers, but that particular shade of neon was all they had at the shop, it was typically meant for construction workers which was why Naruto chose it. It was tough, water proof, padded in the right areas, had deep pockets, internal and out, and clips and loops for tools, plus it had a detachable hood, and the sleeves could be pushed up and tightened in place to keep his hands free. It was a really good outfit. Plus, he knew, staring at orange for too long gave people a headache, so all those people who glared so hatefully at him would have to look away eventually or risk brain pain.

The lady smiled, "I can do that," she said cheerfully before nodding to Ann and bustling away from their little 'section' of Val Habar.

The genin frowned over at Ann who was just again fussing with several papers and a notebook, "What's going on, dattebayo?" he asked warily, "Whys it such a big deal if I see this emmy guy?"

Ann paused and straightened up, "Ah yes, I – I imagine this must be very confusing. Sorry Naruto," she apologised before running a hand through her hair, dislodging her hat briefly. She caught it and put it back before sitting herself down, "Well, to start... The Hunter's Guild is the largest organisation in the world, I'm sure you know by now. A great many villages, towns, and cities have all been built around various Hunting Halls and tailored to suit the needs of Hunters. Much like what you've explained to me about your Ninja villages. His Eminence is the leader of the Guild. He is... I guess you could say he is our Hokage, but while yours leads only the one village, his Eminence leads _all_ of them, making him the highest authority in our society outside Royalty, and even then, I can't think of many who would put mere land owners above the being that ensures that land is kept _safe_ ," she explained with a small dismissive sniff. Clearly, much like Ninjas, Hunters did not think highly of nobility.

Naruto nodded slowly, "Okay, so your Kage wants to talk to me. Why all the fuss though?"

Ann pulled an odd face, "Naruto, his Eminence is _the_ most powerful person in the world. He is a wyverian with hundreds of years hunting experience under his belt, and thousands of the Guild's most skilled and dedicated Hunters passing under his watchful eyes every day. It _isn't_ fuss. It's respect," she explained firmly lifting a finger up to enforce her point. "His Eminence has protected Dundorma through countless Elder Dragon attacks and lead our people through numerous times of crisis. He is a great man, a very dignified, and proud one who cares greatly for his Hunters, and both Nile and I want you to make a good impression on him," she finished with a stern expression.

The blond nodded slowly, "Will you be coming with us?" he asked curiously.

She nodded with a smile, "Yes. You, me, and Nile will all be catching one of the airships to Dundorma tomorrow morning," she explained with a small chuckle, "I'd advise wrapping up warm as it can get chilly up there."

 _ **000**_

Airships were _so cool!_

Naruto whooped rushing from one end to the other, bouncing past the felyne crewmen, the support hunters manning the cannons and harpoon guns, and the ship's captain watching him with amused indulgence as Naruto practically half climbed out of the ship in order to get a better look at the world below.

The airships were _just_ like actual real ships, just hoisted up on a big gas balloon that was about the size of one of the faces on the Hokage monument back in Konoha. At the nose of the ship was this _massive_ harpoon about as thick as Naruto was tall at its widest point, and _cruelly_ serrated. The captain called it a 'Dragonator' and was supposedly there just in case something a lot bigger than a Rathalos, the male variant of the green wyvern that first chased him, tried to take a swipe at the ship.

Thankfully for both Nile and Ann's blood pressure, nothing thought they looked particularly tasty as they flew towards Dundorma. Nile would often call Naruto over to watch something going on down below, be it a predator taking down its prey (he got to see the female green rathian take out one of those huge grey herbivores, Aptonoth Nile called it, and fly off with it), or a hunt currently in progress.

Dundorma was a city enclosed on a fifty foot stone wall, it bore signs of damage all across it, the people still rebuilding collapsed buildings, scorched earth being tilled and replanted with seeds and plants, small craters being carefully tended and turned into decorative ponds, and hunters everywhere carrying supplies and goods to those whom ordered them. He could see guards in heavy armour with huge halberds standing guard here, there, and everywhere, marching after hunters in blue and red uniforms in and out of the city.

"Guild Knights," Ann explained as she began to usher him to one side, "They are... law enforcement, you could say. They handle instances of rogue hunters, poaching, even murder," she explained quietly as she rummaged in her back for the neat little box that her friend rushed to her as they were leaving. "Here, get changed while I try to do something about your hair," she whispered, shifting so she was blocking him off from the rest of the town. Nile had told her that his people were somewhat more reserved when it came to baring themselves, hence why she had pulled him aside. It wasn't uncommon for a hunter to run through a town or a city naked to take a quest, some quests even requested hunters do it in their skivvies. Nile would forever curse the idiot who thought it would be funny to make ' _Deviljho in the buff_ ' an on-running quest. She had seen the lancer strip down at the forge to try on a new piece of armour, and she was guilty of doing so herself when a new uniform came in from the Guild. But she felt that Naruto would perhaps be a tad more restrained in his clothing habits.

The genin went red but did as she requested, pulling his jacket, T-shirt, and trousers off in short order as she handed him clothing. Ann had to approve of her friend's tailoring skills, she had rushed the order, but it _certainly_ didn't show to her eyes. Black boots with sunset red-orange caps that went as high as Naruto's knees and folded over neatly, a pair of black trousers tucked into them, a white collared shirt, a sunset red-orange waistcoat, and a mantled jacket in that same sunset red-orange colour with golden coloured piping and trim, it was clenched at his waist by a black belt, and offset by a single splash of azure blue at his throat with a neck cloth that tucked into his waistcoat. It matched his eyes, Ann noted as she tried to tame his hair, but eventually gave it up as a bad job and merely neatened it as much as she could.

All in all, he looked almost like a miniature Guild Knight without armour, gloves, or adornments.

Nile nodded in approval, "Very nice," he declared, his golden armour catching the light as he loomed behind Ann with tower shield on one arm, and lance strapped to his back. Ann herself was in a freshly cleaned and pressed green uniform herself, her hair, usually loose, was pulled back tightly into a neat bun. "Are you ready to go?" he asked, looking at them both.

Ann nodded as she bundled Naruto's clothing into her back, "Yes, just give me a moment to leave these with Lorna," she said quickly as she jogged towards the young lady at the item stall. They exchanged a few words before Lorna nodded earnestly and waved a hand dismissively and rapidly, she took the bag and tucked it under some boxes in her stall before waving Ann away. The Guild Marm rushed back to them, nervously straightening her uniform as she did so, "She'll keep it safe and out of the way until we get back. Shall we?" the red head asked as she patted herself down and checked her small pouch for the sixth time in the last hour.

Nile nodded easily, and then lead them up the huge flight of stairs to the large dome building that seemed to have a near constant traffic of smaller airships coming and going. They were stopped briefly by the guards, but allowed to pass once Ann rummaged the letter from her pouch that invited them. Naruto couldn't help but stare around him in awe, he's never seen a place like this before. Konoha was all wood and rebuilt and clutter, all the buildings shoved together and built on top of each other with balconies, and awnings, and graffiti and seal tags in interesting places. Ninja were notorious for trying to fix things themselves because they couldn't be bothered, or were too paranoid, to order someone in to do it for them. Naruto had seen leaking water pipes patched up with dormant exploding tags before, and no one batted an eye at that sort of thing. But here? The buildings were all stone, and sturdy, they were high but they weren't cramped or cluttered, and they were clean. It wasn't perhaps as _green_ or _growing_ as Konoha where people had trees and plants growing in the most unexpected of locations, like guttering that had a small sapling growing out of it once on the flat just across from his.

The building they came to though... that was unlike anything he'd seen before in his life.

The huge flight of stairs had a few off-splits that Nile explained were for Guild Knights, and G-rank hunters, places for them to live and sleep when not on missions or quests. Up they went until they reached the G-rank Hunting Hall, where the floors were polished mosaics of elegant repeating patterns, knots and waves and designs, a slightly worn carpet lead straight up the stairs past a few more guards to a breezy open room with no walls, or windows, just wrought iron railings in beautiful patterns encircling a round room manned by three beautiful wyverian women, a small wyverian man shorter even than Naruto, and the _biggest person he had ever seen_.

His Eminence was a towering wyverian quite easily twelve times his size at _least_ , and six times broader, clad in polished metal armour and purple fabric, he cut an impressive figure, perched at the head of the room, a sword of equal size in one hand, bracketed by braziers, and packed by a huge decorative stone circle and sheer yellow drapes hanging from the ceiling, drifting faintly on the slight breeze, Naruto could now understand why Ann was so insistent on his being presentable. The old geezer had _presence_. More so than Hokage-jiji, and his forehead wasn't nearly so tall, or his white beard so big.

Holy shit his eyebrows are _long!_

Naruto swallowed nervously as he trailed behind Nile and Ann, the two of them pacing towards the huge wyverian and bowing.

"Greetings old friends, fellow Hunters," the wyverian rumbled, inclining his head to them. "Naruto Uzumaki, of Fire Country's Konoha, step forward so I may see you clearly," the Guild Kage requested, peering down at him through the bushiest eyebrows Naruto had ever seen. Seriously, they put Lee's _sensei_ to shame.

Naruto squared his shoulders and stepped between Nile and Ann, meeting him square on. Huge he may have been, but Naruto wasn't part of the Guild, and he wasn't a Hunter. He was a _ninja_. And he had been trained by the best.

The old wyverian stared long and hard at him before leaning back and nodding deeply, "You have good eyes," he suddenly declared. "Dedicated, and proud. There is strength in them. Strength and determination. They will serve you well, Naruto Uzumaki of Fire Country."

The blond stared at him, wide eyed. Just like that? Just by looking at him this old guy could make such a decision about his character?

"Ann Messenger, your papers, if I may purview them?" his Eminence rumbled, the tiny male wyverian bustling forward to collect them from the Guild Marm as she withdrew them from her pouch. They were presented without much ceremony to the Guild Kage who squinted down at them seriously for a time, leaving the three in awkward silence. Naruto glancing behind himself as he heard one of the guards quietly turning away a small trio of hunters as his Eminence was in a meeting. An older guy with dark hair and caramel coloured skin, a young man, probably about eighteen, with snow white hair and lightly tanned skin, and a pretty girl roughly the same age with ebony skin and dark braids in her hair.

"Nile Ludro, of my Knights, what say you of your Guild Marm's observations?" the Guild Kage asked, dragging Naruto's attention away from the three hunters who were just leaving.

Nile rubbed his chin thoughtfully, "I think... That Naruto's methods of channelling energy could revolutionise the Hunter's Guild, but also make it exceptionally difficult for the Guild Knights to maintain order. It is... a double edged knife. One that from what Ann and I have observed, will be a long time coming. Undoubtedly it would save hundreds of lives, but his techniques seem to be learn-able only by the younger generation. But that is merely my theory. I am no scientist.

"Naruto himself is hard-working, dedicated, and amiable. A very cheerful young man with only the best of intentions. I have seen him frustrated and upset, but never furious to the point of violence. He is polite, and for all that he comes from a very different culture, and confesses to not being the best of students, I have received nothing but respect, curiosity, and complete dedication to any and all lessons and knowledge I have imparted upon him. If it pleases you, your Eminence, I would take him as my official apprentice at this time, until such point he can register officially for the Guild," Nile announced proudly, his chin lifting.

Naruto's jaw dropped.

"Your apprenticeship, I will allow. But young, Naruto Uzumaki of Fire Country, is. Upon the turning of his majority, I will allow this apprenticeship to be forged in iron and flame," he declared, lifting his sword and smacking the tip against the floor, Naruto swallowed, he could _feel_ that through the soles of his new boots.

"He means once you turn fifteen, Nile can begin taking you out on hunts with him instead of just training you in weapons' handling," Ann bent down to whisper.

"My thanks, your Eminence," Nile said humbly with another deep bow. Ann following suit, and pinching Naruto's back until he did the same.

"I look forward to witnessing your future exploits, Naruto Uzumaki of Fire Country. I would have you all remain in Dundorma., and speak with me in the morrow, I have much to discuss with Tatsuki of my Ministers regarding your Chakra. A decision will be reached at the dawn of a new day," the wyverian declared, slamming his sword into the ground once again.

"Your rooms are still available downstairs, Nile, shall I prepare two extra beds, or merely the one?" one of the beautiful wyverian ladies asked in a smoky voice coloured with sly amusement.

Ann blushed a little, while Nile merely smirked at the woman, "Just the one will be fine," he told her benignly.

 _ **000**_

After the three bade his Eminence good-day, Ann took him down to collect his clothes, and then back up to Nile's rooms in the Guild Knight quarters. Which were _swanky_. Polished marble floors, balconies, fabric drapes, armour stands displaying fancy armours that looked like they would be rather a tight squeeze on the heavily muscular lancer now a days, and a huge double bed dominated the middle of the room against the wall. A second bed, somewhat smaller, with yellow and red blankets neatly arranged was set against one of the other walls, on top of the blankets was a small wooden box.

"Ah, I see Suiren took a shine to you," Nile observed as Naruto picked the box up.

"Eh?" the genin blurted, glancing over at him. Which one was Suiren? Had he spoken to them? Who was Suiren?

"The lady who waved on our way out of the hall, who arranged for a bed to be brought up? It seems as though she's arranged for a pass to typically Hunter only areas for you," Nile explained as Naruto opened the box and found a wooden token attached to a cord. "That will let you come and go from my quarters without the guards stopping you, and without Ann or I having to escort you. Meaning that if you want to go and explore Dundorma without us, or even go shopping, you won't have any trouble."

"Really?"

"Really, really. Just, when someone starts sounding the alarm, _come back here_ , do you understand?" Nile asked seriously, placing both hands on Naruto's shoulders. "If the alarm sounds, it means there is an Elder Dragon attacking the city. It happens depressingly often, hence why the city is almost always half in ruins. However, it is a protective wall that shelters the smaller towns and villages from that same wrath. Elder Dragons are nothing like what you've seen before, Naruto. If the alarm sounds, you get back here as _fast_ as you can."

The blond nodded solemnly, "I will." But he didn't promise. If one of those scaly bastards picked a fight with him, or someone else who couldn't fight back, then he'd kick their asses no matter _what_ Nile told him to do!

The lancer nodded and then rummaged a small pouch from his pocket, "Here. Go out and get yourself something nice while I chat to Ann about her notes. Chances are we'll have to make a trip to the Observation Centre, or possibly the Wycademy. Explore the town, get something to eat, there's a nice little fishing spot not far from the wall, if you catch some golden fish you can trade 'em in for extra money," Nile added with a chuckle as he ruffled Naruto's blond hair back into disarray as he dropped the pouch into the preteen's hands.

Naruto weighed the back thoughtfully, "How much is in there?" he asked curiously.

"About seven hundred zenny. You can use all of it if you like, I don't mind. Just have some fun, tomorrow I doubt there will be much of a chance for it," he added with an apologetic smile.

Naruto grinned, "Thanks Nile!"

"No problem, Sunspire. Just be back before it gets dark," he said as Ann whipped her hat off and tossed it across the room as she flopped back on Nile's bed with a laugh.

"That went better than expected," Naruto heard her laugh as he rushed out of the room, shoving the money in the pocket of his new clothes, and the wooden token around his neck.

Dundorma was surprisingly quiet for such a bustling city. People seemed content to just get on with their day and their jobs, street vendors still called out but it was still a nice peaceful kind of atmosphere unlike Val Habar's mildly chaotic cheery one. Naruto found the little fishing spot that Nile told him about, and promptly went skinny dipping in order to catch near enough a whole _shoal_ of coinperch in varying sizes, cathangea fish and fry, and a _huge_ tuna that nearly dragged him out of the small protected underside of the dock and into the deeper river.

By the time Naruto was sitting down to eat at a small food stall, he'd made ten times the amount of zenny that was in the little pouch by selling the fish to Lorna at the item shop. She was happy to take them for a fair price, and point him to a few shops that might interest him. He ended up buying a few monster books, he wanted to buy some weapons but the armoury shop wouldn't let him as he was too young (and no amount of yelling or tantrum throwing got him anywhere with the unimpressed father of three manning the desk), so he ended up buying general knick-knacks and other useless trinkets that looked cool.

"-know you're wondering what the kid was doing there in the first place," a girl was saying as she passed behind him.

"We missed our quest window because of – hey!" a male voice began, only to yelp and make Naruto jump and turn, his mouth full of rice and some kind of super tasty meat and sauce.

It was the two teenagers from the Elder Hall, the dark skinned girl and the white haired boy. They were dressed in casual clothing instead of the armour from earlier, fresh faced, and just as startled to see him as he was to see them. Up close they were _both_ very pretty, and probably only about eighteen or nineteen.

"Oh," the girl said, "You're that kid from the Elder Hall."

"Thanks to you we were late for our Quest!" the boy complained with a put-upon scowl. The girl nudged him sharply with her elbow.

"That's hardly _his_ fault," she hissed angrily before turning to Naruto and smiling kindly, "I'm Persephone, this sour-puss here is Silas. Mind if we join you?" she asked.

Naruto shook his head, "More the merrier," he said as he shifted along his bench to give them some space. Persephone beamed at him and sat down next to him while Silas scowled and took the seat opposite on the bench, the two gave their orders to the felyne waiter and fell into an almost awkward silence that Naruto heroically ignored in favour of finishing up as much of his plate as he could. He was getting better, he noted as he sat back with a grimace, rubbing his stomach. Half the platter gone.

"Nya, is everything alright with the food?" the felyne waiter asked as he returned with the food and drink orders of the other two.

Naruto nodded, "Yeah, it was great, I just can't eat any more. I'm super stuffed." He caught the almost doubtful look on the cat's face as he looked at the half-eaten platter. "No really, it's great! I – uh – never got to eat much growing up and this stuff is really, _really_ rich so I can't stomach too much at one time," he explained rapidly, he didn't want them to think he didn't like their food. It was _great_ really. He just literally couldn't eat much more.

"Then I'll leave it with you, purrhaps you'll feel hungry again later, nya," the waiter said before bustling off.

"So, I don't think I got your name earlier?" Persephone asked as she sipped her drink, she had some kind of big bowl of stew that was heaving with diced meat and thick cuts of vegetables in a dark tangy smelling gravy. Opposite her, Silas had a large meat shank smothered with sauce, and a fluffy looking dumpling on a bed of roasted vegetables.

"Oh, I'm Naruto Uzumaki. Nice t'meet you, neechan," he declared with a wide toothy grin at the pretty teenager.

"Are you a trainee hunter, Naruto?" Silas asked curiously, apparently in a better mood with food on the table.

Naruto shook his head, "Not yet. I'm supposed to be apprenticing to Nile when I'm fifteen, but until then, I don't really know what's going to happen," he admitted with a grimace.

Persephone nodded, "That's pretty standard. Silas and I were apprenticed when we hit fifteen too. We aim to become Guild Knights once we turn twenty and can officially register for the Guild," she explained proudly, her face set into lines of determination.

"Cool. So, you guys go on Quests?" Naruto asked curiously.

"Yes. Silas there likes to use dual blades, while I myself am partial to the bow, though heavy bowguns are just as useful," the girl mused thoughtfully. She then smiled down at him, "Is there any particular weapon you have your eye on?" she asked kindly.

They spent several hours at their table discussing weapons, items, armour, anything and everything. Silas loosened up considerably from his stiff unhappiness at losing their window of opportunity to take part in a particular quest, he was a pretty funny guy, always with a sassy quip on the tip of his tongue, meanwhile Persephone was down to earth and had a sense of humour dryer than a desert. The three of them discussed weapons and techniques at length, Naruto somehow ended up telling them about his mad-treetop dash away from the rathian when he first arrived, and how he ended up killing a genprey with his bare hands. The two teenagers had been a very appreciative audience until that point, Silas seemed to want to check his hand over immediately while Persephone was grinning from ear to ear, telling him that arm strength like that would take him far as a gunner or a bowman.

In all, he thought he could quite comfortably call the two friends.

And then the alarm began to sound.

 _ **000**_

 **DUN DUN DUN – ELDER DRAGON ATTACK INBOUND!**

 _ **000**_

Character corner, as Jaeger is set ten years before the start of MH4U's storyline, some character descriptions might not be accurate enough for people to keep track of whom is whom, on top of the fact that very few characters in Monhun are actually named. This is a small key so that players and new readers know who is who.

 _Naruto Uzumaki –_ a character who needs no introduction.  
 _Rayleigh Morris_ – the Caravaneer of the Capitol C in MH4U.  
 _Mamoru_ – the Man, blacksmith of the Capitol C.  
 _Penny_ – the young Guild Marm, I know her canon name is Sophia, but I began to write this before it was revealed, and Penny fits better in my head. As time progresses I might make Penny an OC and bring Sophia in another way, but for now, just assume Penny is the soon-to-be-Guild Marm.  
 _Minty_ – your housekeeper felyne/chamberlyne.

 _Nile Ludro_ – Ace Lancer.  
 _Silas_ – Ace Commander as a wet behind the ears rookie.  
 _Persephone_ – Ace Gunner as a rookie apprentice.  
 _Suiren_ – the Elder Hall's G-rank quest attendant.

Ann Messenger – Guild Marm OFC.  
Autumn, Claire, Arsais, Dalagonash – Hunter OCs from my card list on MH4U. 


End file.
